It’s snowing.
I would show you a photo of the snow, but it seems that you’ve seen so many of those lately. The snow on my street is no different than the snow three streets over, and our current snow is actually pretty ridiculous when compared to our 2011 snow.
So here we are. New Year’s Eve. Again. New Year’s Eve used to be bananas—fourteen people on the roof of our house ripping apart a (cooked) turkey with their bare hands and singing Tom Petty tunes at the stroke of midnight. This evening we’ll be splitting our time between a friend’s house and Wii/Pajama/Hot Chocolate Night in our own family room. We will have macaroni and cheese. We will bust out the marshmallows. We will watch Ryan Seacrest, but we will be thinking about Dick Clark. Fondly.
As far as resolutions go, well, I tend to not make them.
With that said, my list from 2008 was pretty good.
This was my list of plans from last year, and I think I did everything except for 5, 10, and 12. Also, I still haven’t held a baby monkey.
In 2013, I’d like to get started on this sweater, and I’d like to knit it with this yarn.
I’d like to write one letter each month.
I’d like to avoid taking the low road when I don’t completely understand something. I will try to not puke up political sludge onto my wall unless I’ve tried to understand both sides of the WHOLE story, as well as my own intentions. (At this very moment in time, three Facebook friends of mine have posted links that essentially cover the same story. Two of the friends posted articles from a conservative publication. The other posted an article from a liberal publication. Same story. Wildly different take. AND, I can’t figure out why these people are posting these articles. Is it to educate? Probably not. Is it just another ploy to stretch out the Us vs. Them thing? I think so. To me, Us vs. Them for the sake of Us vs. Them lacks creativity. Using “funny” to mask hatred lacks creativity. Drinking Red Bull lacks creativity. (Unless you’re in London at an Aimee Mann show and you’re really feeling the time difference between here and there and Red Bull is your only hope to make it to the encore.))
We all know where I stand. I don’t eat meat, but I don’t mind if you do. I voted for Obama, yet some of my favorite people in this world did not, and I understand why. I will never carry a gun, nor will I ever send my kids to a school where teachers are encouraged to carry guns, and I’m trying really hard to understand both sides of this debate, because I know that Never is a big word.
This is what I believe.
I believe we should all take care of one another.
I believe we should focus less on why we don’t LIKE one another, and focus on why we LOVE one another.
I believe we should devote more time to pleasant surprises.
Less processed food.
More music and candlelight.
Less time looking at screens.
More time watching snow.
Happy New Year from The Puddings. ‘ ‘ ‘text/javascript’>