Classes are out for the Winter Break, Vicky is back in Brooklyn with her family. After the finals people packed up and say goodbye, full of joy and cheer, excited to be going home again. It’s a beautiful time, snow covers the ground in a blanket of white, icicles form and hang from the awnings. Song and laughter issue from every home, and lights decorate houses by the thousands. Yes, Christmas is in the air.

Living alone on campus, I don’t get any of that. Winter time for me is a sad time, it’s beauty both cold and bleak. The days are short, and the nights terribly long. When a cold wind blows it chills you, right down to the very bone. It is depressing, coming back every evening to an empty house, and I do so hate cooking for one. I miss the sound of people around the house, I miss the conversations around the kitchen table, and most of all, most painfully of all, I miss my girlfriend.

I won’t lie. I am feeling a little distant from her at the moment. She’s reading the Twilight books I got her for Christmas, and is immersed in a fantasy world I feel a little left out of. When we talk online, she gushes about how beautiful is the love between Bella and Edward, and I can’t help but feel a little jealous. I guess I’m just afraid that, reading about this perfect love, she’s going to feel unsatisfied with me, that she’ll want something more… fulfilling. Sigh, being away from her is so difficult. I miss Vicky so, so much. It’s funny to realize just how much I depend on her for conversation and companionship.

Still, I know she loves me, and that privilege is one I ought to be more grateful for.  As we count down the days until we’re together again, I know I’ve never been so in love before. I look forward to, some day, spending many a happy Christmas with her.

So Merry Christmas everyone. Enjoy time with friends and family, sing carols and give presents, and do enjoy some Christmas pudding with brandy butter. Let us all be thankful for the love that we receive.