First Post of the New Year

Well, it's 2009 now. A bright, shiny new year has arrived (yes, it really is bright and shiny around here today). And, like just about everybody else, I find that really hard to believe. I'll be writing 2008 on letters and checks and blog posts for the next few days, if not the next few weeks – until my brain wraps itself around the new concept (that seems to be taking longer and longer these days).

I suppose it's time for the traditional listing of New Year's resolutions and rehashing of the year gone by. Well, I usually try to avoid making resolutions at the beginning of the new year – I find I hardly ever keep them, and that just depresses me. And in the middle of winter (not my favorite season), I really don't need any more depression than I've already got!

I did write a little run-down of my reading plans for the coming year – it's posted on my other blog (Joy's Blog). But aside from doing more reading and trying to use my time more productively in general, I really don't have a lot of plans for 2009. Try to stay healthy – that's a plan. Don't watch so much TV. Well, actually I think I've got that one covered already. Our new digital TV set-up is so complicated, I can't even turn it on without coaching – so I don't think I need to worry too much about the tube taking over a lot more of my time!

And as for year-end summaries and wrap-ups – well, I'm not very good at those, either. For years now, M and I have said it might be nice to write one of those newsy "what-we-did-this-year" letters to include in our Christmas cards to friends and family. And every year, we talk ourselves out of it. Summing up a whole year in two or three paragraphs just seems overwhelming and stressful and pointless. Maybe next year, I'll just point everybody to my blog! "Here," I'll say. "If you want to know what we've been up to, just look at this!"