it's just as much filled with promise, as yesterday was

Hope


Smiles from the threshold of the year to come,

Whispering 'it will be happier'...

- Alfred Lord Tennyson

I think we all have that clean-slate, fresh start feeling come January 1. In spite of the year's 12 months-of-our-daily lives, for some reason when that calendar flips to the last month and counts down to the last day of December, the hope of a new year rises within us and we celebrate what has been, and what lies ahead.

I don't like taking down my Christmas Tree.

 It's not because of the physical labor that's involved. I just don't like letting go of the holiday season. I give myself the same speech every year, "we carry that holiday spirit with us all year through, if we so choose". I do pretty well with this mantra. But I decided that I need snow to keep my holiday spirit going. Oh come on Mother Nature, you've done some crazy things this year. What's a little snow in Southtown going to hurt, hmm?

I spent Christmas in Florida this year, with my family. I wasn't sure if it would feel Christmasy to me, given how warm it can be at the beach. I found that the Christmas Spirit resides just about everywhere, even where there are seashells. I walked the beach Christmas Day, and found a glimpse of exactly what I was looking for.

A family had left a message by the ocean, a Merry Christmas by the shore. Complete with a pile of shells and a signature from each family member. I smiled when I stumbled upon it, and had to take a picture so I would remember.

I thought, well it doesn't matter where you go. Christmas, and it's spirit, arrives wherever you are. I didn't give the new year much thought when I was on vacation. When my family gets together, and it's been a very long time since we ALL have been together at Christmas, it's nothing short of slight chaos. Chatter and noise and kids running around and conversations I can barely keep up with,  and music and boat rides, and....well you get the gist. I lived in each moment, and had a fabulous time.

On the long drive home, I had a lot of time to reflect. I was excited for 2012 to arrive, and started feeling that "it's going to be a great year" idea long before I reached Dallas. With tidbits of sand everywhere (and I mean everywhere) I smiled and thought about a resolution or two, as I drove part of the beach home with me. As I type this post, I look up to see the new calendar above my desk, shouting "It's January 2012!" and think about all that I have to fill in on those blank boxes. A wedding to go to (my sister got engaged Christmas Eve), pending visits from my family in May, a possible visit to Cozymel in June with friends, a trip home (Missouri) in my favorite month, October, for Mizzou football and hopefully a KC Chiefs game too. Many things to look forward to, as January rolls in and brings that clean slate.

I do like the "off with the old, on with the new" feeling, but I don't want to erase. I just want to flip the page over, and write the next chapter.

I hope your new year has started off with great things, and has reminded you that it's just as much filled with promise, as yesterday was.

Happy New Year my friend,
Tiffany

PS Breakfast at Tiffany's will be mostly protein and fresh fruit for a while, it's time to get in shape for good things to come!