Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  And I do mean this today.  Here's the thing, for me at least, a new year being celebrated on January 1 is simply unreasonable to me!  First, we are ONE WEEK past Christmas!  I don't know about you, but all of my Christmas decorations are still up at that time.  Maybe I am crazy, (and I certainly will not attempt to refute that!), but I think we all need a month in between Christmas and the new year to get our bearings!  For sure I need two to three weeks to clean my house and put decorations away!  And did I mention the need to sleep a bit?!  Following the chaos of Christmas I need a break!  And I am absolutely positive that I am NOT the only one.  Now I fully admit that we have a little more than the usual chaos in our house, but COME ON!

And, how about those resolutions.  I don't know about you, but I am still in a fantasy or stupor from the holidays.  Call it what you will, but I believe my altered state of mind causes me to make irrational resolutions and promises.  Ones that include "I will never swear again" or "I will begin my new diet tomorrow" or "I will keep my kitchen clean."  (That last one is a real pipedream for me!)

So, I propose that we take the month of January and use it as a recovery period, plain and simple.  We slowly drag ourselves into reality.  We put away the glimmer and shine and blinking colorful lights that have mesmerized us and placed us in a trance during that month.  We slowly regain our composure and reenter the mainstream of life.  We think about the resolutions we can reasonably make. 

So Happy New Year!  It is February 1 and I am starting my new year today.  Of course, I will still make some of the same idiotic resolutions.  I am planning to watch my diet and continue exercising, but I am going to start by keeping a notebook that will include weight and measurements (God help me!)  Truth be told, I am significantly heavier than the day I got married!  But, here we go!  The legal eagle in our family is getting married in June, the last of the children.  Although the first one got married fifteen years ago, which incidentally makes me fifteen years older, I still think I could make some effort to look "hot".  Age does not necessarily mean unattractiveness, right?

I do want to watch my mouth also.  I know, and God knows, I am not perfect so I will slip up.  That being said, I plan to try to throw in Lord Have Mercy! or God Forgive Me! or Lord Help Me! rather than an expletive during my more explosive moments.

My most important resolution is to continue to reach out to people that I have been lost to over the years.  It doesn't matter why I have been lost, it mostly matters to reconnect!  Time to forgive and move on.  As I learned in a sermon at church, carrying the hate, anger, jealousy, and general negativity around daily is quite a burden.  The idea was planted that it isn't too tough to carry around a pound of sugar, but add a pound every day and it eventually becomes overwhelming!

So, Happy New Year!  Start today.  Lighten your load physically, mentally and emotionally.  Take baby steps in meeting your resolutions.  If you fall down, get back up.  You can start a new year every month if you need to until you get it right!  Oh, Lord Have Mercy!  Kids are arguing, my house is a mess, and I need to at least clean one area of my kitchen!  Have a blessed week.  God is there for you every day, just seek Him!