Happy Next Year!

I love fresh starts:  unused tablets of paper, reorganized cupboards, clean dogs, new calendars. It feels to be good to be reminded afresh that the future is as untracked as new-fallen snow. Twenty-eleven can be anything we want it to be. We can be anything we want to be, if we want it hard enough.  Yep, it's that time of the year again when every one of us re-evaluates ourselves.

So I'm asking myself, "What do I want to change in my life?"  To my surprise, I'm finding that there isn't much.  Oh yeah, minor tweaks.  But the big things (knock wood) are fine.  I'm not sure if that means I'm extremely lucky, stuck in a rut or have my head buried in the sand.

I'm fairly sure that being a low-maintenance kinda gal really contributes to my overall satisfaction level.  As long as the basics are taken care of, I don't need much.  As long as I have my family, my dogs, my chickens and my garden to nurture and I feed my creativity with various craft/DIY/furniture/sewing projects, I'm wallowing in bliss.  Case in point--guess what presents made this Christmas fabulous?

Unfair question! (Because they weren't presents in the traditional sense.)

One, I got to rock a three-month-old baby to sleep (for an hour) when he awoke during the holiday program at school.  Two, that night I brought a bale of straw hay home from the feed store so that I could make sure the Bombshells were warm and cozy in their coop during our frosty single-digit nights. 

A baby.  Some straw.  Christmas.  Hmmm.

All the thoughtful, lovely, fun presents I received after that were icing on my Christmas pudding as the Universe nodded approvingly at me because I got her message about the important things.

And it struck me as never before, that Christmas (that very special birthday) isn't "over".  Every new mom knows that a birth is the start of things, not the end.  It's a celebration, a new beginning, a lifelong journey.

My New Year's resolutions?  Well, they involve smiles and laughter. A lighter outlook. Lots more patience.

Thoughtfully,