Christmas had once been a magical time of year for Max here in Macedonia, a celebration of his amazing bond with his mother, of little things like their family's gift opening traditions.

At our house, instead of everyone just kind of going at once, we go by age and do rounds at Christmas, and just going from me to Grandma just seemed wrong.

And it had to be from her.

That kinda got to me because the Facebook called me, the message called me Short Round, which my mom would use my nickname, the nickname Short Round and Shortcake for me.

Just w- well, until I got to her height, but that's what she used to call me.

Mm-hmm.

So she didn't bother with bringing him home, 'cause she knew it wouldn't be a long-term relationship.

And I knew that she was going to stay with someone in Omaha, just because she'd be working from, like, 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM.

Wow.

So I, every time the, that my name got called on the intercom, I'd kind of glance in the, the office real quick, just to make sure that it was okay to go in.