You’re standing on the Lopez family porch with numb fingers and a tight grip on the handles of the gift bags, breath fogging in the cold night air. The house is warm and loud inside—low music, familiar voices, the clink of dishes—but you hesitate anyway. You always do. Holidays have a way of reminding you how easy it is to be forgotten. Missed birthdays. Group chats that go silent. Friends who swear they’ll call and never do.