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Sunday, Dec. 28, 2003 - 6:32 p.m.

Christmas in Johnstown

DECEMBER 25, 2003, JOHNSTOWN, PA.

Christmas hasn't been that different, so far, other than the location and the company: Johnstown, Pennsylvania, not Little Silver, New Jersey; and Casey's family, not mine. There's still food and wine and laughter and warmth -- both literal and figurative; or both physical and emotional. Last night, when friends and family streamed through the house overrun with Christmas -- three trees, tons of presents and decorations, music reaching every room -- I gazed through the panes on the doors leading from the living room to the foyer and into the dining room. Steve Tyrell was singing "The Christmas Song" and it felt like I was watching a movie, then like I was in the movie. It held that classic Christmas image for a moment. The only thing missing was frost on the window panes through which I was looking.

Later, I stepped outside to the front walk, glass of wine in my hand. Houses up and down Luzerne Street were lit with white and colored lights and the tree-lined boulevard was quiet except for the voices of two families who had just left the party and were getting into their cars. "I was playing nice with Ana, Daddy," Emily said to her father. "I know, honey, I came downstairs and saw you," he replied.

This morning I woke up at 8 and listened to the quiet house -- when anyone is up, you can hear the voices, the footsteps, the clinking and clanking of life. It was silent; I knew no one else had left the warmth of their beds. Outside was quiet too and when I looked out the frosted window I saw nothing but white -- snow had fallen, leaving a few inches, enough to cover the streets and sidewalks. It's my first true white Christmas, the kind where you go to bed with the green and brown cold ground outside and wake up to a magically white wonderland, snow clinging to the branches of the leafless trees and the needles of the evergreens. Later, as we stood in the kitchen drinking coffee, tea and water, and eating shortbread, the snow kept falling as the sun broke through the clouds to the east. The flakes sparkled in the light like specks of silver glitter descending from the sky, as if we were part of a giant snow globe.

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