The Last Seat at the Table
The holiday table fits eight and this year nine people are coming.
The youngest cousin has a plan involving a stepladder and a very old chair.
Talk about it after
Everyone is counting chairs. Only one person is counting people. Ask afterwards: when was the last time kindness cost someone in your family something — and was it worth it?
More from the hearth
The Lantern That Told the Truth
Mira borrows Grandpa's old lantern and accidentally cracks the glass. It keeps glowing anyway — but only when someone in the room tells the truth.
One More Stair
The lighthouse has ninety-nine stairs and Theo has counted every one. Tonight the lamp is out, the ferry is late, and stair one hundred appears.
The Soup That Said Sorry
Two cousins stop speaking over a broken model plane and one stolen dumpling. Grandma's soup pot refuses to boil until somebody apologises first.