I cannot believe that this year is already over. No, wait, I can’t believe that this decade is already over. It seems like only moments ago that Mike and I were newlyweds waiting anxiously to see if technology as we knew it would end at midnight on Y2K. I blinked and it is 10 years later and we have 2 children we hadn’t even begun to think about when the decade started. This new decade will see M old enough to DRIVE. My mind reels at the thought – after all, I have seen this child play Mariokart. It is an experience that requires copious amounts of Dramamine. The 2000-teens will also see G turn into an almost-teenager. If what I have already experienced of her love of shopping and outlandish taste in clothes is any indication, that experience will require more than Dramamine. They, of course, being children, would gladly jump forward to those grownup incarnations of themselves. I, being a mama, want nothing more than to freeze them as they are today.  However, time is relentless, so I will have to resign myself to freezing them in photographs while being grateful for the experience of watching them grow.

I cannot begin to take in how much our lives have changed in the past 10 years, and the thought that it will probably change that much in the coming 10 years makes me want to curl up in the fetal position. You see, I don’t deal well with change.  For that reason, New Year’s Eve has never been my favorite holiday. The change from the old year to the new invariably leaves me feeling a little blue. Part regret over things left undone in the old year, part a desire to avoid change in the year to come, whatever the reason, I always dread New Year’s.

Then there are resolutions. I always make many and keep few. There is always that feeling that the slate is wiped clean and you have the opportunity to make life perfect this year. This year, I resolve not to make myself crazy trying to keep a hundred resolutions and to accept that life is not meant to be perfect and neither am I. I will try to slow down and enjoy the crazy imperfection of life with a 7 year old and a 2 year old. Because soon they won’t be 7 and 2, they will be teenagers and I will be subsisting on Dramamine.

On top of all the big changes implied by a brand new year, there are also the mundane things, such as taking down the Christmas decorations. I once left our Christmas tree up until February. Yes, I did. And let me tell you, by February, the sparkle is gone and you just want your space back. This year, I resolve to get the tree down before February. I think that is a reasonable resolution to make, and one that I might even be able to keep. So, since their days are numbered, I decided to take a few shots of our decorations before they come down.

Wishing you all joy in abundance in the coming year…