Celi looked glum after Megan ceremoniously dumped a bagful of silly bands in her lap. *Oh, and I found a couple of paracord bracelets to throw in, too.* Everybody laughed: *Silly bands!? See, Celi, they’re all different shapes. You wear them on your wrist. They were popular like four years ago....* When pressed, Celi told Megan she liked her present, but not until after saying with childlike honesty, *It just seems like everybody else got cool presents.* Don’t know which is harder to bear: her palpable disappointment, sitting there by the tree, or the reinforcement of my role in this ongoing narrative called Christmas. Who the fuck does a name-drawing gift exchange with his kids, where each person only spends a handful of dollars or makes something? A poor person who can't obviate the pathos of child-made presents by swooping in and getting EVERYBODY something awesome, that’s who. It’s my fault Megan even had a chance to go all selfish-teen on Celi, and put like 1% effort into her gift. Who knows, maybe she genuinely thought Celi would appreciate a bag of rubber bands recovered from the bottom of a desk drawer. I’m having a hard time imagining that, though.