Editorial: ’Tis the season of giving, all year long By Julie Darling The worst Christmas of my life was the best thing that ever happened to me. Ten years ago, the week before Christmas, my friends with whom I had spent the last handful of holidays informed me that only real family was invited that year. Then my mother, after an argument, told me not to come home as well. I was pretty devastated; I cried for a minute, dusted myself off and decided to make a plan.