The year was 1961, and I was ten years old. It was a Saturday in mid-December, and I was with my dad at the Lark Foods convenient store he managed. I made 25 cents an hour taking out trash, sweeping floors, and stocking shelves with my father. The store was unusual in that it was inside of an independent meat market – Capital Meats. I don’t know how long the meat market had been in business, but in 1961 the owner Max was an old man in my eyes. He was also the first Jewish per

I love Christmas. I always have. When I was a child, we would listen to the radio tracking Santa’s path and I would attempt to fall asleep filled with sugary excitement, the insides of my eyelids awash with multi-colored lights. The sooner I could fall asleep, the sooner I would wake up to the day I looked forward to all year—Christmas morning. For me, this child-like wonder carried over into adulthood. The year I was pregnant with my first child, I insisted that we welcome o