Who will you spend the holidays with?

I've been sick lately. So sick the doctor's aren't yet sure what it is. (I have a CAT Scan this week and an internal scope to look forward to early in the New Year...to see if we can find out what's been going on.)

I'm not looking for sympathy, though.

What I am looking for is what's most important to me right now. And the answer, naturally, is: Friends & Family.

So for Christmas this year, I asked my husband for two things:

1) To fly me mumsy out from California to be with us for the holidays. (She arrives tomorrow!)

2) To rent an off-season ocean-front house on an island in Maine for New Year's Weekend. (We found one and we've already signed the lease!)

I don't want *stuff*...I can't take *stuff* with me whenever it is that I check out from this game called life. It's taken me many years to realize this (what a shame).

But I'm also not looking for your judgement.

What I am looking for from you is:

WHO are you looking forward to seeing this holiday season or in the New Year? And, yes, if you'd like to share, please feel free also to share who you will miss this holiday season. I'll go first.

I'm looking forward to spending the holidays with my husband, a man I've been married to for nearly a quarter of a century (next year!). A man I almost left earlier this year. Oh, how clumsy relationships--especially the long-term ones--can be.

And to being with my daughter and my son. And their boyfriend and girlfriend, respectively.

My mom. But you already knew that. She had her own surgery just a week ago today. And an MRI last Friday. Lots of stuff going on for her, but you don't see her whining in some blog post about it. :)

And my husband's family. Christmas Eve is my favorite holiday celebration of all. I've been honored to join my husband's family for these past 24 years. (I actually told my husband that if we did split up, he could expect to see me at Christmas Eve, cuz there is no way I would ever give THAT up!)

And my friends. Those who can make the NH Film & Television Holiday Gathering. Those who will be joining me on the island. And the few in between who I'm not too tired to visit with on weekends.

And I'll miss: my father. Who died ten years ago, the weekend of the September eleventh catastrophe. His death was unrelated to that event, but it did cause significant hardship in getting the family together to be by his bedside.

And my friend Kathy. Who today I realized left us about eight years ago. I mark her anniversary with my friends' wedding anniversary. Not because I'm morbid, but because her burial service was the reason I couldn't join my friends for their big day.

We all have sadness in our lives, eh? Guess that's what makes the gifts all the greater. It's never easy, though. This thing we call life. Together though, I'm fairly certain we can make it all worthwhile.

Happy holidays!