What's the good of news if you haven't a sister to share it? ~Jenny DeVries

Living away from home, nothing brightens up my day more than chatting with my sisters online. Even if it’s only for a few minutes, touching base with their lives and catching up on all the gossip at home about friends and family puts a smile on my face.

If you don't understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child. ~Linda Sunshine

That's me and my sisters completely.There’s an easy familiarity about chatting with family that I adore. No matter how little you say, so much more gets transmitted through those few words. Those little phrases, so completely unique to my sisters that I can almost hear them speaking aloud and see their expressions. It never fails to amuse me when both my sister and I think the same things at the same time.

I’ll be smiling for hours afterward just remembering snippets of the conversation, no matter how mundane or silly. It’s like my own little talisman to help me through the day; my way of keeping my family with me.

Tis the season to be jolly

La joie de vivre or the joy of living is used to express a cheerful enjoyment of life, an exultation of spirit. It may be seen as a joy of everything, a comprehensive joy. It could also be and more often is joy of a specific thing eg., joy of conversation, joy of eating etc.

For me, it’s the joy of Christmas. That’s the feeling that comes over me in December. The weeks leading up to Christmas, I’m as excited as a little kid, forever smiling and eagerly counting down the days. Every little thing makes me happy. I laugh and smile at the silliest things. I’m constantly humming carols under my breath in trains, buses, during lectures at college.

At home, Christmas preparations are in full swing. I’m singing along to every carol (really badly I’ll admit but I’m too happy to care). I can smell the yummy sweets being made, delicious scents wafting all over the house. You’d probably find me sneaking into the kitchen for I quick taste, trying to see how many sweets I can steal before I can get thrown out.

The house hasn’t been formally decorated yet. It’s sort of a family tradition to leave it till the 23rd and then spend the entire day decorating together as a family. However, there are touches of Christmas everywhere. Tiny wreaths of holly strewn here and there (that seemed to have magically transported themselves from their dusty boxes) and small figurines of Christmas placed innocently in a few places, and paper cutouts of reindeer, Santa Claus and snowmen stuck on surfaces here and there. Christmas is definitely in the air!