Christmastime would just not be as enjoyable without the companionship of three very special women. Life would not be as enjoyable without them; college would definitely not be as enjoyable (or survivable) without them. You've already met them in previous posts, the most recent being about our Christmas tree hunt.

I'm feeling rather sentimental tonight, perhaps because of the hour, perhaps because the stress of finals has worn us all out, or perhaps because it is the time of year when we all leave our lives for a few weeks and return to the place that had once been home. Whatever the reason, the fact remains: I love these women and will miss them, beginning tomorrow when Meredith leaves.

"True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and choice." - Samuel Johnson

We began our evening with dinner at our apartment.

"There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship." Thomas Aquinas

"My true friend is the one who brings out the best in me." - Henry Ford

"Friendship without self interest is one of the rare and beautiful things in life." - James Francis Byrnes

"A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him (her) I may think aloud." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art...It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival." - C.S. Lewis

"Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant." - Socrates

After dinner we opened presents and then went to Konditerei for desert, hit Coffee-In-Motion on the way home and then watched a movie.

In the midst of papers and projects, studying and tests, classes and jobs, there's nothing better than an evening of uninterrupted time spent with true friends.

"It is one of the blessing of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them." - Ralph Waldo Emerson