unfiltered

For me, the hallmark of a true friend is a person with whom you don't have to filter what you say. Someone you can say anything to, safe in the knowledge that it will never be used against you or held over you, that you'll never be ridiculed for it (good natured ribbing aside), knowing that they'll love you despite what you say (or perhaps because of it).

There are so few people I feel that way about, and almost all of them are too far away to drop in on for tea and crumpets when I need to let it all out. At Christmas time, more than any other time, I mourn the paucity of close friends in my life. Christmas, rife with stress, stifled by the need to be PC, pulled in so many directions by so many forces, Christmas is when I need my tea party. Or vodka party. Or Prozac party.