I'm glad it's over.
I have to confess that this season, I was ready for the holidays to be over almost before they were done. I love Christmastime; not just the kitschy, commercial aspects of it, but the time spent with family and friends. The hours in the kitchen with Twinks and The Wrench making cookies and wrapping presents. The joy in giving. The magical, reverent feeling when you leave Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, and the world is quiet, and cold, and still as you make your way home through the starry darkness. Calling on family, neighbors and friends during Christmas week, and then the end of the holiday season, watching the world celebrate one hour at a time as the New Year marches around the globe.
It's fun. It's busy and hectic, but it's fun.
But I am still glad it's over.
I don't really know why I am so eager to start this new year; I have no looming projects on the agenda, and for the first time in 10 years, no need to plan the major excursions to visit my Mom and The StepDad; after all, they now live just Two Hours East, and we see them nearly every weekend.
But the fact is inescapable that I was actually *thrilled* to take down the Christmas decorations this year; I was glad to pack it all away, neatly labeled in the big storage tubs that stack so neatly in the guest room closet.
Most of us start a new year with that delicious, anticipatory feeling; after all, we view it as our chance to start fresh. Resolutions are made with zeal and fervor for better habits; well-intentioned to-do lists are filled with previously neglected projects. Even the most jaded among us surely finds a little interest in starting a new calendar, a blank slate upon which the year to come will be chronicled.
I have made no resolutions or lists of my own this year; I have learned that Life takes me where it wishes with or without them. My needs are few; my wants, wishes and desires center around the people in my life, and not material wealth. And yet, I am looking forward this year in a way that I haven't for a long, long time.
Here's to a Happy New Year, for all of us.
4 comments:
Sounds like regardless of what happens, 2007 will be a great year for you and your family.
Just popping in to check on you (I've been lax on making my blogs rounds for a few months). I'm glad your holidays were good (even if you're glad they're over), and I want to wish you, Twinks and the Wrench a wonderful 2007!
You know, I had a bit of a similar feeling this year, too. I mean about taking down the decorations. I was sort of glad to reclaim the space in the living room where trees/presents had been living. Odd. I've never really felt that before. Are we getting old???
I was kind of glad for the holidays to be over also. Perhaps because I end up working the holidays all the time. Still, getting free dinner at work those days is a plus.
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