As I promised myself, this has been a week of treats, ranging from donuts to pancakes to coffee cake and then back to donuts again. (Yes, there is a trend toward donuts.) But Monday’s treat has been the best treat so far—a yearly holiday get together with six women I have been friends with for nearly twenty years. At one point, we all belonged to a group called Maine Media Women, which is where we met and became friends.

I can’t remember when we decided to get together for a yearly holiday gathering, but it has been for quite a few years. At first, we went to restaurants, but then Joyce kindly offered her place for a potluck, and we have been meeting there ever since. It’s so much more comfortable than a restaurant. At Joyce’s home, we can nibble on appetizers and chat, move to the dinning room for dinner and more chat, then go back to the living room for little presents. The whole evening has a wonderful flow.

Some people have a “touch” when it comes to making a house beautiful but cozy, and Joyce has this touch. Candles were lit and there were vases with fir and pine and red carnations. Everywhere, there was some pretty little thing to admire, but Joyce’s home is neither cluttered nor busy, as my home has a tendency to be.

Some highlights: I heard about Lynne’s trip to the Middle East, Peggy’s upcoming trip to Colorado, and Sherry’s little beach cabin in Oregon, where her son lives. There was also the hilarity that ensued over Joyce’s presents to us all: fake animal noses that lit up. But for me the real highlight was Laney, my friend Perian’s nine-year-old daughter, who came to the party with her mother.

Now, I know all children are special in their own way, but, to me, something about Laney seemed extra special. I talked to Laney about horses—like many girls her age, she’s crazy about them; about what she wanted for Christmas—horseback riding lessons and a hamster; and about school. Her father is a skilled photographer and seems to have passed some of this on to Laney. Not only did she use my camera to take a picture of all of us, but she also showed me how to retrieve images that were previously taken. (I admit it. I’m not much for technology.) The icing on the cake, so to speak, is that Laney is a little foodie, and she made the brownies we had for dessert.

Thinking of Laney’s love of horses, I asked her, “Do you like kitties, too?”

“I like all animals,” came the reply.

Good answer.

We all brought little presents for Laney, and it was such a pleasure to watch her open them and then stash them away in a bag. (I noticed Laney nipped one of her mother’s chocolates and add it to her own bag.)

When we were all getting ready to leave, I said to Laney, “Come next year, too.”

“I will,” she said.

In a few years, Laney will not want to come to a party with a bunch of middle-aged women who wear lighted animal noses and giggle themselves silly. That’s how it should be. Children need to go their own way as they grow older.

But we’ll have the pleasure of her company for another couple years, at least.