Quote of the Week - Christmas Edition!

Merry Christmas, friends!

Because this is the season for celebrating love with our loved ones, I wanted to share a family-themed quote. Luckily, Jane's work is full of family ... and when I thought 'family' and 'Jane Austen' ... well, there is really only one family to go to - the Bennets.

The quote is taken from the end of Pride and Prejudice, chapter 60:

Mrs Philip's vulgarity was another, and perhaps greater tax on his forbearance; and though Mrs Philips, as well as her sister, stood in too much awe of him to speak with the familiarity which Bingley's good humour encouraged, yet, whenever she did speak, she must be vulgar. Nor was her respect for him, though it made her more quiet, at all likely to make her more elegant. Elizabeth did all she could, to shield him from the frequent notice of either, and was ever anxious to keep him to herself, and to those of her family with whom he might converse without mortification; and though the uncomfortable feelings arising from all this took from the season of courtship much of its pleasure, it added to the hope of the future; and she looked forward with delight to the time when they should be removed from society so little pleasing to either, to all the comfort and elegance of their family party at Pemberley.

This quote, for me, sums up so much of what we love and struggle with with families and relationships ... and I love the different family units represented within this passage - the extended family with their quirks and foibles, and Lizzie and Darcy, who are in the process of creating their own family unit.

This Christmas season I hope you can celebrate love and life with your loved ones, with some Jane on the side. Take care, friends. On behalf of Icha, Rachel, Linda and myself - Merry Christmas! Have fun. :D

Pic: Pride & Prejudice 2005 from: http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/3900000/The-Bennet-Family-pride-and-prejudice-3942573-750-499.jpg