Commentary.
The holiday season brings a wave of memories of time spent with parents, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents and great-grandparents celebrating together in a farmhouse in west central Illinois. When I close my eyes, I can smell the big cedar tree decorated with tinsel and simple ornaments. I can feel the icy wind that makes my cheeks rosy from running and playing in the yard and barn.
Like many of the people my age who grew up on family farms in the Midwest, I moved away from my home state years ago.
