January 1, 2014….The first day of the new year. Seems like the last year went by so quickly. It seems like just a few days ago that I wrote a post on January 1st of last year.

January is probably my least favorite month. It’s snowy and really cold. I saw the forecast for next week and on Monday, the high temperature for the day is forecasted as -7. That will be the high for the day, not even 0 degrees. And I start to think, how did I get here to this cold, snowy, barren time of year. I think it all started back at Halloween. There were a series of holidays and special days seemingly back to back that slid by without skipping a beat. First Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then getting ready for the holidays, gift shopping, Christmas card writing, cookie baking, then came Christmas Eve and Christmas. Then a week later was New Year’s Eve and now we have it – January 2014. The middle of winter. No more holidays to look forward to.

It’s specifically at this time of year that one starts to dream about vacations in a tropical place, and of summer, which seems such a long way off.

In the cold sober light of day on the first day of the new year, a toast of tomato juice and coffee, to the new year….but of course this is a much too depressing toast. Let’s toast instead to new beginnings, to new resolutions, to new opportunites and the excitement of one last present not yet opened….the new year.