It was the first night of Christmas break and Jessica made curry from the spices she got while we stayed in Brooklyn. We listened to "the black album" and the sounds of John, Paul, George and Ringo mingled with our conversation and created a time capsule with the faded, but never failing, aura. I couldn't take my eyes off of the glittering glow from the lights on the evergreen tree. This glow had a way of casting an effervescent spell over the night that made my mind fizz.

Here are some quotes:

"PICASSO EATS TOAST!" - Ian
"I try very hard to look like I'm not well put together." - Erika (title for her future autobiography)
"I pretty much went from 'I want to be a detective' to 'I want to be a writer' because Sherlock Holmes is not actually a career." - Ian

I love these people. 

(i am now done with college for the semester, but all of this is pre-finals)

"The movements of your soul, the physicality of the everyday - walking against the bitter grey wind with my dog to grab the mail; pouring steaming water to brew the tea; stirring the coals in the woodstove; cutting the wrapping paper and snipping the ribbon; turning up the music so it fills the house; feeling my heartbeat stir against my ribs as I exhale deep and slow and see it like cigarette smoke - this can be enough."

-insatiable desire for something more / r.h.b., dec 2014

Of course I scarcely remember the rest of the day, except that we all raked leaves together making up our own lyrics for rap songs, and Stevo showed off his new motorcycle. Then there was a moment when Cat was rushing around the kitchen working her magic cooking curry, careless about the mess; and curly-haired siblings were running around, and baby Gwyneth was crawling on all the furniture. There was this cacophony that occurs in houses with so many kids and amid this Stevo was hunched over the piano playing Skating from Charlie Brown. He was oblivious to the rest of us. This music brought a warmth to the chaos. And I remember how Cassie and I glanced quickly at each other in that overflowing smile while Stevo played those heart stopping arpeggios. It was magic the way both Cat and Stevie were so fixated on their endeavors. This fervor spilled over everything, if only for a moment.

-the pure, quick fever of humans / r.h.b. / nov 2014

"It never stops. We move and change ceaselessly. That Christmas spell begins pervading my everyday movements sometime in mid-November. The lights burning like embers through the windows and the fires sparking at dusk and the snowfalls after midnight urges something inside of me to let the people I love warm every ounce of my faded, stretched, weary soul. And I get breathless when I look back on the year."

-beginnings / r.h.b. / nov 2014