snippets of the season.

it's been a lively, cheerful season in this neck of the woods. a few things i want to remember about this time:

we've been listening to amy grant's christmas album over and over again. christopher's parents played it as he grew up and, to him, tennessee christmas is the sound of christmas at home. i like that story.

another album i'm loving is eric whitacre's light & gold. it's haunting and lovely and, in my head, the sound of the very first christmas morning.

my favorite thing lately is checking the mail for christmas cards and pinning them to our candy cane string. it feels like christmas every day, coming home to these love notes and well wishes.

hardly a night goes by that we're not watching a holiday film of some sort. by now we've watched all the old favorites at home -- christmas vacation, elf, love actually, the holiday -- and some on the big screen at local theaters -- home alone and it's a wonderful life -- too.

my heart swells over the small, simple joys of this season -- wrapping gifts in brown paper and ribbons, penning merry notes to faraway friends, baking christmas cookies. i love it all so.

it's been especially joyful to dream up and hunt down gifts for our family and friends this year. this is the first year we are spending christmas together, so it has felt like a rite of passage to have a big list to shop for.

i've received a couple of gifts this week that hold particular meaning -- angie brought sweet handmade mittens back from her trip to latvia and bethany found the american in paris album on vinyl with rhapsody in blue. bethany also made us a jar of her truffles and they are making an appearance at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, too.

we'll be spending christmas here in new york city, the christmas away from home for both of us. we made this decision together a few months ago when we decided we'd like to start our own christmas traditions now rather than later. we'll join his family in the city on christmas eve, spend christmas morning in the treehouse just the two of us, and fly down to my family in south carolina on christmas night. a few times over the past few months, i have weighed this decision and wondered how i will really feel on christmas eve and morning, not waking up with my family like i always have before -- it has sometimes felt a bit like wendy's last night in the nursery. but then i look over at my christopher and know that i am happy -- i am home -- where he is, and i couldn't be more excited for our traditions -- many from our families, some brand new to us -- to take root and blossom.

one tradition we are starting this year that i am particularly excited for is the giving of pajamas on christmas eve. a simple, sweet gift that will be treasured throughout the year.

so that's what's happening over here lately -- merrymaking and all that jazz.

happy christmas eve eve!