Can I tell you how excited I am for the holidays?! I can. not. wait. to disembark from the Ethan Allen tomorrow evening into my families' arms - if I can find them in the 2 feet of snow blanketing the mighty Green Mountain State... Hello?! Parents? Brother? Arms?!!! My husband Craig and I decided to Amtrak-it to my northern home instead of slushing through the highway havok; all we ask for are two seats relatively close together and a tidy spot for our baggage. [ fingers crossed ! ]. My brother is home for his first Christmas from college, and my mom is hosting dinner Christmas Day. Perhaps I can entreat my dad to make us latkes, the infamous fried potatoe pancake, for the fourth night of Hanukkah... I love my mixed traditions, but let's look at the facts, folks. Exhibit A, above : a glorious panetonne in a box worthy of stylish posterity. And Exhibit B, below : a mishmash of oily starchiness.... Ah, holidays !!!

Craig has just offered up a new tradition : Let's bring the inflatable mattress to Killlington ! Instead of skiing down the mountain, we can recline down the mountain... ! And maybe we can bring fleecey blankets and I can smoke a pipe and you can read a book and and and ....

My only comment, once again is : Ah, holidays !

Royally Ready for the Holidays

Take a heaping spoonful of upheaval in the financial markets, mix well with the change of seasons, cut in the cacaphony of the political scene and sprinkle with a dash of ' time flies ! ' and voila - ! No wonder my nostalgia is springing warm from the oven of my memory.

How I long to be at my parents' house this winter, nestled in the bosom of my green Vermont home cuddled white with snow... with my husband, my brother home from college, the sounds and smells and hugs of the holiday season all wrapping themselves in layers around me.

As I was losing myself in pages of Italian travel magazines this evening, I found these great illustrations from a Harpers' Weekly Christmas Edition from 1895. As the Rare Posters site describes, "Very scarce and early Maxfield Parrish front and back covers . . . The front is decorative and shows a baker, the back advertises Royal Baking Powder. ". I adore Maxfield Parish, and was delighted by the happy smile of the baker and the buoyant dough steaming with tasty goodness - not to mention the ornate yet balanced detail of rolling hils and quaint towns through the leaded windows in the background.

I don't know what I'm longing for more - the confection or the countryside . . .