"The dining-room doors were thrown open, and, as it was Christmas-time..." ~ Jane Eyre

I have been ill for almost a week, home for the past few days, and grateful to be emerging from this awful cold that hit me quite hard. This late afternoon it finally dawned on me that it is, indeed, Christmastime. The adrenaline from that thought was enough to make me feel even better, and I spent the late afternoon in bed with pen in hand and holiday cards. I grabbed my Christmas music cd's and have had Sarah McLaughlin's Wintersong playing for a few hours now, the melodies beautiful to hear over and over again. Over the past few days, my sisters and I have begun to exchange emails about the menu for Christmas day. Jack's holiday photo arrived in my mailbox today as well, making it quite bright and merry indeed. I ordered part of the Prince's gift this afternoon, and I made a list of what Jack shall receive from his Aunty...all cooking related, of course! This holiday season also brings Cassie's wedding a few days before Christmas, making it even more of a magical time.

What I am most excited for is, of course, spending my first holiday season with the Prince. He had mentioned this a few months back, and I know it is going to be special just for the mere fact that he is a significant part of my life. This weekend we shall trim my tree, and that is always the aspect of Christmas I look forward to the most. Though we are in an inter-religious relationship, his family has put trees up over the years, so he knows the routine as well as I do. My plan is to actually lay out the ornaments first and put on my Christmas Cocktail cd as we trim (it has my favorite rendition of I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm sung by Dino). I have either peppermint, cinnamon, or regular hot chocolate to choose from as well. My plan as of now is to make dinner - mushroom risotto with smoked gouda - and have that before we get to the tree trim.

In a week and a half, J.Sarah and I will do our annual "Holi-day" in NYC! I think this is now our fourteenth year of making it a point to go see the tree together! We have made entire days out of it, but this year it will be a shortened version of seeing the tree and going to La Bonne Soup to have some Croque Madames and Branade! Despite how hectic life is, we just cannot miss this day...its already a huge part of our history as friends! I recall the days I used to make itineraries for us back in high school...oh how I wish I had those somewhere! Well, they are in my heart regardless.

Another tradition I enjoy is watching A Muppet Christmas Carol with my twin. We got into this groove as children and it just has not ended! I think there is something about it that brings us back to Christmases as children together, and its nice to revisit that. I asked my father to actually get the VHS tapes of one Christmas morning on to DVD - Robin and I were 7 and Missy was 11. It was the year of My Pretty Pony, Star Wars figures, a pewter Unicorn necklace that still sits in my jewelry box and a paperback copy of How The Grinch Stole Christmas from my parents who inscribed it and I still have it to this day.

What is most wondrous about this Christmas is that Jack is aware of it. Seeing it through his eyes this year will be priceless, indeed....

I cannot wait.