2010

Ah, another year.

Yup.

The clock still ticks on the wall. Cats still sleep on the bed. Winter mornings still chill me, and nothing beats an ice coffee and melon for dinner in the summer.

At what point did the new year become less exciting?

I may have gone to New Year's Eve parties when I was in high school. I seem to recall a night of drinking and fireworks where I got to play fire marshal with the garden hose incase we set the roof on fire. The roof of a two story house in a closely settled residential neighborhood.

Yeah.

But at some point I realized that what I enjoyed more was getting back into my schedule. This rush of holidays that happens at the end of the year became more of a nuisance, a bothersome distraction.

Not that I don't enjoy some of the trappings. Festively decorated lamp posts. Houses lit up with colored lights. Music that really only seems appropriate once a year. A time when you are expected to get together with family and friends.

The gift exchange I really don't have any specific attachment to. I've been known to give people gifts just because I've found something I thought they would like. No matter the time of year. (A habit highly encouraged, and perhaps fostered, by my husband who loves to give things to his friends.)

I know I am not alone in this. And I haven't had some great revelation that the season isn't about the commercialism. That's the kind of thing that you don't need a cast iron skillet to the head to see.

But I would much rather encourage celebrations throughout the year. Perhaps each friend in the group picks a time that is particularly special to them. Maybe they just like April because that's when the first crocus start to push their way through. Or maybe they like June because that's when they finally feel they can break out the grill. (A little late by some standards, I know.)

Make an event out of it. Invite the neighborhood, invite one person, or go by yourself. But celebrate something small every year.