A thousand years have passed since mid-December, the last time I sat here in this quiet living room. I love this time here, bleak January, the grey world outside sliding into the dark of winter while in front of me the cozy fire pops and dances like a long-lost friend. It seems a lifetime, yes, and at the same time it has been merely an instance, this holiday, passed in the blink of an eye.
Just yesterday, I swear, I waited anxiously for her car to pull into the driveway.
You’re here my sweet girl. Now Christmas can begin.
I said it to Eliza, just as my mother said it to me year after year after year when I made my way back home to Virginia. Like me, Eliza dropped her bags on the kitchen floor and rolled her eyes. And so I smiled, knowing deep in my bones how much I meant it, knowing now how intensely my mother meant it each of those many years.
And begin it did, the whirlwind that was this year’s holiday season.
First, five days in New York.
Monday
Micky waits.
Tim and Eliza, shopping and smiling in Bryant Park
NY Botanical Gardens
part of the train exhibit: all made from items found in nature–twigs, acorns, moss, etc
Times Square
Julia and Colette, dinner at Arthur Avenue
Christmas Eve. The sun comes out!
Help! We have a flat tire!
brunch at via quadronna (yum)
Christmas Eve Services at St. Bart’s, Park Avenue
NY Christmas
Christmas Day
we were tickled
all set for Christmas Dinner
coconut cake ala the barefoot contessa
girl cousins in party “popper” hats
Thursday, time to head home.
bye bye NYC
Friday. To Florida to visit Dad!
hello, jacksonville
Monday, home again. To this.
guess who didn’t have a flu shot?
No one would chance being around me. No one, that is, but Little Bit.
a long week of lots of this
But I did survive. And the Tigers won!
Orange Bowl Champs!
And on the very last night, there was this.
And just like that Eliza is gone again, the holiday break from college over, real life back in session. My heart ached as I watched her back out of the driveway, knowing when I turned back toward the kitchen the quiet would have come again.
But then, I remembered, it is January. My favorite month* of the year.
*seriously
~~~
I’ve missed you. I’m glad you’re feeling better.
What a wonderful holiday – except for that flu thing. I’ve decided to start collecting twigs, branches, moss and tree bark to craft my own Christmas skyline next year. Have glue gun, will craft.
Happy New Year, sweet Cathy!
ps…love Miss Eiiza’s Prada bag 🙂
With ya on the glue gun. I did a great deal of study of the acorn/moss/twig details of those city scenes. I believe we could create a corner gargoyle in no time at all. Also, Eliza will be pleased with your endorsement of the Eliza’s-Colette’s-Prada bag!