When I was a child, Christmas was the most magical time of the year.  I loved absolutely everything about it.  From going to pick out our tree (flocked again this year ... bummer), to helping hang up the outside lights (for every burned out light, dad would say "That's a no-good-nick"), to baking cookies in kitchen, to the Christmas music playing on the stereo - there was nothing I didn't like about this most festive of seasons.

Though I loved pretty much any Christmas carol you can think of, my favorite Christmas album that we  played over and over every year was "That Holiday Feeling!" by Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme.  I can't pinpoint why exactly, but there was just something about those two beautiful voices filling our home with the sound of warmth and laughter that just meant Christmas to me.

The first Christmas Kevin and I were together, I told him the story of how much I loved this album and how, when I heard it, it always meant that it was truly Christmas time.  The album belonged to my parents and I explained that I'd searched for it on CD, but hadn't had any success.  For my birthday the following year, he gave me a very special gift.  In secret, he'd gone to mom and told her what he wanted to do, and she lent him the album.  He took it to a friend of ours who duplicated it on to CD - keeping all of the pops and crackles that were on the album.  They created a label for the CD that looked identical to the label on the album and then copied the cover of the album and that became the CD cover.  When my birthday arrived and he surprised me with this amazingly thoughtful gift, I cried.

That one album has had a huge impact on my life and is enormously significant to me.  The following year, Kevin and I duplicated the CD and handed out copies to family and friends.  Its legacy continues and improves with age.

Last Saturday evening when we were watching the news, they announced that Eydie Gorme had passed away at the age of 84.  Instantly I was filled with great sadness and a heavy heart.  As we listened to the news anchor give a brief overview of her life, my mind began reeling with the many years of joyful memories Edyie Gorme had given my family and I.  Her passing also brought home the fact that my mom and dad are gone now and I began waxing nostalgic.  A little switch ticks in my brain, and I begin to re-live the loss of people and things I've loved immensely who are no longer here.  While it's not something I dwell on, when it happens, it does bring on a brief but intense sadness.  Kevin, knowing exactly what I was thinking, reached for me and gave me a big hug.  It was exactly what I needed and I didn't want to let go.

The next day I got an email from a friend of mine.  She said that she was so sorry to hear of the passing of Eydie Gorme.  She'd thought of me the moment she'd heard the news.  This past Monday, another friend told me the same thing.  It makes me feel that in some small way, Eydie and I are inextricably linked.  I like that.  I said to one of my friends that Eydie is up in Heaven serenading my mom and dad; she said she could imagine it and it made a wonderful picture.  I think so too.

Goodbye, Miss Eydie.  Until we meet again.