baby it's cold outside

     I don't think it is any secret that my sister and I are close. Matching tattoos, twin telepathy, finish each others' sentences, hold hands in public, obnoxious close. Last summer if you asked me about her going away for school I would have told you how worried I was about her. "I hope she adjusts, I hope she is happy, etc.." What I should have realized is I was the one who would need adjusting. Adding something to an equation is easy; taking it away is the hard part. I will be the first to admit this year has been tough. Her first year away from home and in turn, my first year away from her, took a toll on our relationship. The past months have helped me realize that despite what I may think, I need her just as much as she needs me. Maybe more. 

    It is safe to say the two of us have never had a peaceful Holiday; there is always some sort of dysfunction that is out of our control trying to mess up our desperate attempts at a "normal" season, a "normal" family. Some people dread the next three months for this very reason.They are our absolute favorite. No matter what is going on I always know that the two of us will have at least one perfect, Norman Rockwell memory to look back on in the future. Boyfriends, husbands, step families, blood relatives, best friends, they all come and go. I am lucky to have one constant and one best friend every Christmas, this year being no different.
I said it in my post last year, it is so easy to get caught up in what we think our Holidays should be.
Start positivity early, don't let yourself get trampled by disappointment in 2012. Stop and take the time to look around you and feel the warmth of what you have rather than day dreaming of the frigid "what ifs."