Very Good. Happy Christmas.

Here we are as in olden days,
Happy golden days of yore.
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more.

This is the first Christmas I've spent away from Raleigh in nearly 18 years, and it was both easier and harder than I thought it'd be.

My parents moved away more than three years ago, and I never stayed with my brother in the meantime (before he moved to Austin this year), so I didn't think that, since the holiday wasn't about my family anyway, the where wouldn't matter.

But it did matter. A lot. More than a lot. And the who mattered too, to my great surprise. But "family" is a funny thing; so is the concept of "home." It's not logical, for sure.

Still, I had a very nice holiday, with very lovely people. I felt cared for, and cared about. And isn't that the true meaning of Christmas?