A New Year is Coming

I have finished picking the last bit of scotch tape off the floor, put the rolls of wrapping paper back into the storage container, and noticed that my project table looked like a bomb went off on it... Christmas is over.

Soon, it will be time to get organized again, clean every room from top to bottom, and pull out the 'winter white' bedding. I'm so organized when it comes to decorating FOR the holidays... but it seems to take me forever to remove and pack everything away for another year. It's a task I don't enjoy as much as I do putting it all up!

This week, we'll wind down 2008 and I can't say I'm sorry to see it go! While there were many good things that happened this year, there were also a good many challenges that tested my 'will' and tapped danced on my very last nerve. Having faced those challenges with determination and a strong will (some say I'm bull-headed), I'm ready to celebrate the incoming year and all the promise it brings.

I'm not one to make new year's resolutions. Why set myself up like that?! Instead, I make new year's 'intentions' which seem like less of a failure if I'm not totally successful. I am not a big party boy on New Year's Eve. We usually go out for a nice dinner (all gussied up in our finest), and return home before all the drunk people are on the roads. For years and years I've spent the Eve with Dick Clark and in recent years with Ryan Seacrest (no complaints). My New Year's' Eve party days ended nearly 20 years ago.

One of the things I do recognize about myself is that I get rather 'reflective' during these last few days of the year. Did I accomplish all I set out to do? Can I say I was successful this year? Did I fulfill my personal mission? It's my time to take my personal inventory and evaluate my life. That's a good thing, as it sets the direction for the coming year.

All the reflection does make me want to celebrate, however. Perhaps I'll throw on a rhinestone tiara and dance about the family room with wild abandon. Ahhh... the good 'ol days.