Christmas morning, 2025. I’m in The Maple Leaf Airport Lounge waiting for my scheduled 8:30 AM flight which now leaves at 10:30 AM so clearly for the folks at Air Canada, Christmas Day is a just day like every other.

Luckily my Platinum American Express Card (with the exorbitant yearly fee) entitles me to all the processed orange juice, bitter coffee, watery eggs, burnt link sausages, and goyishe bagels, I can eat. So, I’m OK. Nobody worry about me. I’m OK. Really. I’m fine.

The airport is pretty empty and it’s mostly Jews and Asians here in the lounge.

The same could be said about our 15-person Christmas Eve family dinner at The Pearl last night, a time-honored Jewish tradition dating back thousands of years to the origins of the respective civilizations. It’s a fact, in fact, that God created Chinese people just so that Jews would have somewhere to eat on Christmas Eve. Look it up. AI don’t lie, my friends.

There was one person missing at dinner last night, though. My mother-in-law Fran is in the hospital. Again. I know that 2025 wasn’t kind to a lot of folks but I think Fran gets to bud to the front of that line.

In June she got knocked over by a dog and broke her left knee and her right ankle (or maybe the other way around). She was in various hospitals and rehab facilities for the better part of four months. Not easy. But she worked her way back with grace and positivity, and just an exemplary attitude.

Honestly, I wish I had her spunk.

I can’t reveal her age here, but let’s just say that she was born before the internet. And the guy who invented the internet. And that guy’s father.

After her painstaking and hard-earned four-month recovery, she was finally, finally up on her feet again, and back in her blessed condo with her blessed husband, Larry, who’s been pretty damn stalwart throughout this whole ordeal as well. And it hasn’t been easy on him either.

And another unfortunate collision happened two weeks ago. This time she only broke her elbow, shattered her shoulder into a million pieces, cracked two ribs, and fractured her pelvis.

I visited her in the hospital yesterday. She’d be entitled at this point to be a bit pissy. But no, never complains, kibbitzes with the nursing staff, LIKES THE FOOD! No tears, no woe is me talk, just laughter and storytelling and positivity. She’s going to be fine. I know that because she knows that.

The woman is a marvel. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve met anyone like her.

I’m headed back to Hollywood, Florida to see my brother again. He ain’t great, so I want to see him as much as I can these days. Admittedly my journey is not 100% altruistic. There will be a warm sun. And there might be poker.

If there is poker, I dedicate all winnings to my amazing mother-in-law, Fran Marshall. And let’s just be clear here. Dedicated does not mean she gets the money.