Original views on life from rural America

What is the best gift found around any Christmas tree?

According to syndicated columnist Burton Hillis, the answer is "a happy family all wrapped up in each other."

Friday, while sorting a few holiday items in the sidebar, in preparation for a vendor show, I unfolded a quilted table runner and immediately was transported to my grandparents' home in Tilden.

The pink and black floral print, swatches patched together with coordinating colors, resembled a queen-size quilt and matching pillow cases my aunt Deanna gifted me at our family Christmas a quarter of a century ago.

This was when our Fields family holiday get-togethers featured handmade gifts. So many unique gift items were presented through the years. And, there was a lot of love and laughter. We were definitely "all wrapped up in each other."

After my grandparents departed this earth, we still gathered for Christmas, but after a few years, we moved our annual celebration to late November or early December. Some of the aunties and uncles are snowbirds, so we made adjustments.

After Mom died, the holiday celebration shrunk to an unrecognizable form. Not all the cousins and their families would make the trek to Tilden, their own family trees expanding. Everyone is busy, calendars overflowing with work and family and home and school responsibilities. Schedules don't always mesh, making it difficult to keep the tradition alive.

I get it. It really hit home this Thanksgiving, when Courtney questioned why the family doesn't celebrate together anymore. How will her children learn about previous generations in our beloved family, listen to the fabled stories she heard growing up, while we sat around the wooden dining room table that's been in the Fields family for multiple generations? How will our family's love of board games, creativity and competitive spirit be on display? How, pray tell, will they learn to play 10-point pitch or ^*&# on your neighbor or Texas rummy - card games we all learned from our elders during family holiday celebrations? How will they experience our kooky, ingenious, happy and loving family while, at the same time, understanding and accepting the ache of loss?

I'll be the first to admit that I'm struggling with the loss of my parents and loved ones more than usual this year. When I'm contemplating a difficult situation, I catch myself having a conversation with Dad, working through the problem the way he would approach it. He always offered the best advice. And, no doubt about it, there are times when you just need to hear from your mom.

There's no perfect answer or solution. In a perfect world, all 53 of us would be gathering at Laurie's house - the home that built us (home to our grandparents and my parents) - in Tilden, kitchen counters loaded with soups, appetizers and plenty of sweets, a football game playing in the background, while we gather around the table, lingering over the remnants of a meal, sipping Grandpa Fields homemade wine (or fine wine product, take your pick).

In reality, we'll keep working to recreate that energy when we gather with our kids and grandkids, creating new traditions, relying on tried-and-true methods carried over from earlier generations. There will be plenty of food, a smattering of handmade gifts, a dining room table full of board games. There'll be competition and imagination and laughter and love, all signs of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.