Almost Here!

In less than 30 minutes now, 2011 will become history and 2012 will be ushered in.


Unlike a lot of folks, there's no partying happening here. The kids were in bed and sound asleep too by 8:30 p.m. -which is pretty much their normal bedtime -and since Mandy has work in the morning, she was in bed then too by 9:30 p.m. I'm still awake but hoping that tonight I will be able to fall asleep easily and soundly too so that I can rise and shine by 8 a.m. and start the New Year off on a good footing then too by being able to get myself and the two grandkids up and dressed and off to church by 9:30 a.m. That's my plan anyway. Whether I will succeed or not -well I'll fill you in on that later!

Although I am trying to stop smoking (or at least make a drastic reduction in my consumption of those things), I'm not doing it as a resolution type thing for the New Year -not exactly -since I actually started doing this about 2 1/2 weeks ago now. Today wasn't one of my better days -still under 10 cigarettes for the day but the three previous days I had it down to about 5. So gonna have to step up my watchfulness a lot more now aren't I?

Other than the effort to stop smoking, I'm just going to try to live life to the best of my ability -which for me simply means making every effort I can to enjoy watching my grandkids grow -and grow -and boy, they surely are doing a bang-up job of that too! Hard to believe they are as tall as they are now with Maya coming up almost to my shoulder and Kurtis very close behind her.

Having them here, living with me, was truly a Godsend right from the start and even though they each have their own little quirks, their own particular little tricks and such, they've always provided a renewed incentive every day since they arrived on the scene.

Two nights ago when my older daughter and older grandson were here to spend the night, Kurtis provided quite a neat little story for Aunt Carrie and Gram -telling us all about what happened 5 years ago and since then -basically it was his own version of the story of his life and I wish I'd had a tape recorder handy to have preserved that for posterity. Where he got the imagination to rattle off the things he told us, I'll never figure out but it sure was interesting to listen to his little tale.

The kids both had a great Christmas, that much is for sure -perhaps even too much "Christmas" in some respects because I've always believed that too much of the toys and new clothes can be just as detrimental than not receiving anything. Way too easy then for kids to price themselves out of Christmas further down the road if they get expectations of a plethora of gifts early on is my thought on that aspect of the holidays. They certainly got enough that they won't or shouldn't be bored all that soon anyway and Mandy calculated that she probably could got maybe close to 3 weeks without having to do laundry based on the new clothes they received too. We've still had a few little spats over the new toys and sharing but overall, it's actually been relatively peaceful in that context and the kids have been entertaining themselves with lots and lots of crafty things to play with along with some new games and loads of crayons and coloring books. So that's been a blessing, for sure.

Only one time did Maya start to consider whether she or Kurtis got the most gifts and we were -thankfully -able to nip that idea in the bud, then and there!

I've got a lot I'm actually looking forward to in the year ahead -the biggest thing on my agenda is the 50th Class Reunion of my High School class which will take place in early September. I'm very much looking forward to that event and working with several other classmates to try to organize it in such a manner that those who show up for it will find it memorable and enjoyable! (And that they will all be able to still recognize each other too!)

Beyond that, if the coming year treats me as well as the outgoing year did, with respect to my health, I will be a very happy camper!

My wish for each of you -family and friends -is that the New Year brings with it perhaps a large dose of that elusive peace and prosperity that often just seems to dangle close but still out of reach much of the time.

May each day be filled with laughter and love, good friends and good health! Anything beyond that is just icing on the cake, isn't it?

Happy New Year and Sweet Dreams for a great New Year ahead!

Positive thoughts only.