holiday

She'd been trained as a child no to trust anyone, but he'd just saved her life, and she was freezing. He could be a yeti for all she cared.

Oh my God, you're huge." She struggled to get her hands to the ends of the long sleeves. The garment hung to her knees. She glanced up to see his lips pressed together, like he was choking on a laugh. The corners of his eyes wee crinkled and amusement flickered in his heated gaze.

Can we have breakfast now? No matter how sweet it is, a man can__ live on pussy alone.

He__ been trying to save this woman in his dreams for years. Now here she was, all grown up, and he still felt helpless.

A tree._ She spotted one. It was hidden behind a much larger tree, its limbs misshapen in its attempt to fight for even a little sunlight in the shadow. __ana has this tradition of giving a sad-looking tree the honor of being a Christmas tree._ She walked over to the small, nearly hidden tree. __ like this one. __t___ He laughed. __gly?_ __o, it__ beautiful because it__ had a hard life. It__ struggled to survive against all odds and would keep doing that without much hope. But it has a chance to be something special.

He started for his office, but something was bothering him. Turning back to her, he said, __ have to know. DJ walks in and you instantly like her. You__e never liked any of the women I__e dated, and you__e never done more than share a few words with them on the phone. What is different about this one?_ he demanded, trying to keep his voice down. Marge smiled. __ou__l remember this one__ name.

He locked gazes with her. __ have to wonder why you aren__ being straight with me. I hate getting myself killed without knowing why.

DJ saw the change in his expression the moment before he dropped the ax, reached out with his gloved hand and, cupping her neck, drew her to him. __ believe you owe me a kiss.

I want to die._ May shook her head. __et me get a knife._ ____e made a horrible mess of things._ __aven__ we all? If you don__ want your supper burned, die quietly while I get back to the kitchen.

Snowflakes swirl down gently in the deep blue haze beyond the window. The outside world is a dream.Inside, the fireplace is brightly lit, and the Yule log crackles with orange and crimson sparks.There__ a steaming mug in your hands, warming your fingers.There__ a friend seated across from you in the cozy chair, warming your heart.There is mystery unfolding.

MURRY: Why do we even celebrate the New Year? It's just this arbitrary quirk of how we measure time in years, right? Midnight tonight is the very same transition from day to day that we do every 24 hours. But this thing in my hands, it feels real in a way the numbered calendar box never does. Why? What makes midnight tonight any different?

MURRY: It's not that, it's just_ I don't really get it. I usually find myself staring at the midnight deadline filled with regrets both for opportunities and loved ones missed. It's another day closer to the end. The last thing I feel like doing is counting down to some wild celebration. It just seems so sad to say goodbye to a year and know that it__ gone forever and you can__ go back to it. Not to relive, not to correct.NOEL: I've never thought about it that way.MURRY: There's something so final about it. It's the period at the end of the sentence.NOEL: The New Year's resolution.

NOEL: And even when I don't stay up until midnight, I still enjoy the tradition of New Year's resolutions. What can I say? I like setting personal goals and challenging myself to improve. I suppose I could do it on any day of the year, but the New Year is as good a day as any. It's a fresh start.

MURRY: Resolutions are a complete waste of time. They're just this meaningless ritual, empty promises we make and break within hours of each other.

MOTHER TIME: Every New Year is the same. Every day, every second is too for that matter. But when we deliver them in secret, when another year just begins as a matter of fact, it's easy to fail to appreciate what a miracle it is to have more time. So, I suppose, it feels different right now because this time you're paying attention

MOTHER TIME: We all get the exact same 365 days. The only difference is what we do with them.

MOTHER TIME: Life goes by so very fast, my dears, and taking the time to reflect, even once a year, slows things down. We zoom past so many seconds, minutes, hours, killing them with the frantic way we live that it's important we take at least this one collective sigh and stop, take stock, and acknowledge our place in time before diving back into the melee. Midnight on New Year's Eve is a unique kind of magic where, just for a moment, the past and the future exist at once in the present. Whether we're aware of it or not, as we countdown together to it, we're sharing the burden of our history and committing to the promise of tomorrow.

We paw at nostalgia even before we hit twenty, wanting a holiday that never happened, a wholesomeness that could not survive in the wild.