Cousins

Punch, left, and Izzy at Christmas dinner.

Izzy was the North Star we followed up to Maine. Seven years old to Punch's six, she is the youngest child of H.'s sister and her husband. She and Punch met when they were babies, but they hadn't seen each other since November 2007.

This season, we moms texted photos of each girl's Elf on the Shelf. Then I got matching red Christmas knee socks for the girls on Black Friday and mailed Izzy's up to Maine. Next, I bought matching tutus and flower headbands at Over the Moon in Montclair. They opened them yesterday and loved them.

The cousins have been inseparable since we got to Izzy's house yesterday.

At Punch's age, I was close to my cousin Cathy, who lived 11 houses away on Bedford Road. We were in the same grade and the same school through third grade at Saint Mary's and then in high school, but by then, we had different crowds of friends. We once had matching red flowered summer dresses. She let me ride her new red bike a lot [my parents didn't buy me a bike] and her mom, my Aunt Gloria, was nice to me. In her preteen and teen world, Sis was thick with my cousin Linda--letters flew back and forth between them.

Have to squeeze some work in. Enjoy your day.