Happy New Year!

I've always felt like the new year marks the end of the holiday season - as a kid this was reinforced by returning to school. Christmas is a favorite time of year for me, but the days and weeks after are a slight let down. Many of my friends & family start taking down decorations on December 26th as if the passing of Christmas officially declares the celebration closed. They pack their merriment away in tiny boxes and proceed in search of the next holiday. Me? I want to grab hold of the holiday cheer and never let go.

I'm not very good at goodbyes, so ringing in the new year is HARD. Everywhere you look you see Top 10 lists and Most Memorable Moments - signs that the year as we know it is coming to an end. While I reflect on what has happened during the course of a year, I struggle to sift through it looking for those moments that are the diamonds in the rough. I want to roll it all up - the good & the bad - into a big ball and keep on going into the next year. I don't want to leave anything behind, don't want to acknowledge the start of something NEW. I'd prefer to think of life as one big journey that goes on and on like the worst run-on sentence you've ever encountered. Then I never have to say goodbye to anything, but rather greet the next year as a new friend I've met along the way.

In 2012 I've decided that I'm ready for one new beginning - a book blog. We'll see how this goes. :)