Winter Wonderland

Oh the weather outside is frightful… which makes this a perfect day to write a blog entry.

Today is officially Day 10 of my 16 days off this holiday season and it’s finally decided to snow. And boy is it snowing! This is the closest thing to a blizzard we’ve seen this season so far and I am so very glad we don’t have to go anywhere today. Most people have heard me proclaim my hatred for winter, but to be honest, I actually find the snow very pretty – if I can watch it from inside my warm home. What I hate is risking my life outside in that same snow. You see, slippery surfaces and I have never gotten along. I have no real sense of balance and the slightest slip will cause me to fly head over heels and usually injure myself in some way. For some reason, my car (any car I’m driving for that matter) seems to adopt this problem in the snow as well, so really, I’m not safe anywhere in the winter except the cozy confines of my own house. When I think back to all the injuries I’ve had in my lifetime, most have been winter related – a broken wrist on a toboggan hill (going UP the hill at that!), lifelong TMJ from a slip on a patch of black ice, countless sprained ankles and wrists thanks to mandatory ice skating trips in elementary school…is there any reason why I prefer to hibernate through the winter rather than risk life and limb? But today, on this day of doing nothing, I find myself drawn to the window to watch the snow cover the landscape, Christmas lights glowing through the mounds of white stuff piling up on them…THIS is the type of winter day I love. Bring it on…but just for 6 more days. Then it has to stop, because I have to get back to work!

Christmas came up out of nowhere it seems this year, and I’m still having trouble believing it’s over already. We did the dinner, the gifts, the visits…but something still feels like its missing. I watch my friends with children (ok, I creep them on Facebook) and I see how much more special Christmas seems to be to them. Are children the missing ingredient? If we had a little one waiting for Santa Claus, would we feel the spirit of the holidays more? I’m sure we would. And who knows what our future will hold. But when I think back to this past week…a week of relaxing with my husband, going on a Christmas lights tour through the city, making a Christmas feast together, opening our ‘zero dollar’ Christmas gifts (thanks for the idea 30 Rock), and lounging in front of the T.V. in our new Christmas pajamas, I can’t think of anything I would have wanted to do differently. This is Christmas OUR style, and while we may not have stood in line to meet Santa, or left cookies and milk out on Christmas Eve, we still felt the magic of the season just by being together and frankly, that’s the definition of a Merry Christmas to me. So maybe nothing really was missing...

Now we’re on to New Year’s…a time to reflect on the past and look forward to the year ahead. I’ve never been one for making resolutions, mostly because I’m not great at keeping them, but I do have a good idea of what I’d like the year ahead to look like, and will work towards that throughout the year. New Year’s Eve for us is low-key. Every year we talk about getting dressed up and going out to a New Year’s party somewhere and dancing the night away, and then as the time gets closer, we remember that our favourite New Year’s Eve involves good food (mmm fondue), comfy clothes, a funny or romantic movie in front of the fireplace and the big countdown with Dick Clark. We’ve invited friends over in the past, and frankly, counted down the moments until we were alone again and could get comfy. Does this make us anti-social? It very well may, but it also makes us happy. And I think Dick Clark would miss us if we weren’t there to count down with him.

My wish for you - family, friends and acquaintances alike – is that all of your hopes and dreams come true this year. There is nothing more important than health, happiness and true joy. May you all experience that in your own special ways over the next 12 months, and, in turn, spread that joy to others who may need some help finding their own. Happy New Year everyone!

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.
~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

One resolution I have made, and try always to keep is this: To rise above the little things.
~John Burroughs

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.
~Bill Vaughan

What the New Year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the New Year.
~Vern McLellan

We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential.
~Ellen Goodman