I hope you had a nice Christmas! It isn’t over yet, you know. We still have New Year’s to go. The abbreviative phrase “New Year’s,” I am assured by dictionary.com, is an acceptable reference to the two-day mash-up that is our ceremonial changing of the Gregorian year. After many years of considering it a minor festival existing in the long shadow of Christmas, I have begun to change my mind. It is becoming a new favorite. It’s a light-hearted party followed by a day of rest and reflection. It’s so simple. I suppose I began to change my mind when my other favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, began to be eclipsed by the commercialism of Christmas. Talk about a long shadow! I also gained appreciation for New Year’s when I finally learned that it wasn’t necessary to face the new year with a splitting headache.
