This year it is so much better than last year, when I was dazed by lingering exams. I made a pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce yesterday, and then baked up a pan of cornbread to leave out overnight for making stuffing. I woke up this morning to the first sticking snow, a continuation of the little flurries that started yesterday afternoon while we were out. Nobody thought they’d amount to much, and really they haven’t, but there is white on the ground and more white bits coming down through the air every so often. I am snug in my fuzzy winter gown, drinking yergacheffe and feeling a little overwhelmed by how grateful I am this year.

Such a wonderful family, and I’m a little extra sad not to be with them today. We haven’t been home for the holidays since we moved to Minnesota, but Mom issued an invitation back in October. That would have certainly been enough warning for normal people, but being academics we had both set up our syllabi so that as much grading as possible dumps into the long weekend instead of the very end of the semester. I’ve gotten used to having my life booked up at least six months ahead in this job, but it still felt strange to explain that we really would have needed to plan Thanksgiving back in August in order to make it work. So I am missing them today, as well as my Fort Smith relatives, and sending them love from miles and miles away.

We are lucky that almost everyone we love is relatively healthy right now, and we are able to speak every day with the one who isn’t. Two wonderful close friends have had some big personal things happen to them lately, and they both found some resolution just before the holiday. (I’m the sort who worries over my friends, and it’s good to think of them being warm and happy today instead of trying to fake their way along while hurting.) I love my work and the cities where I live. I get to learn new things all the time. The house is warm, and full of books and bubbling fish tanks and my very best friend, who I happen to be married to. I have a copy of Capote’s The Thanksgiving Visitor, One Christmas, and A Christmas Memory to page through, and later ’ll get to work on the turkey and stuffing and sides.

Happy Holidays to all of you, and I hope you find moments of peace and cheer in the days ahead.