New Year's Eve

Perched on New Year's Eve, I have a confession to make: New Year's is not one of my favorite holidays. Now, part of this is due to the fact that it's generally regarded as the end of the Christmas Season and I always hate to see Christmas go. It's as though I've waited all year for Halloween to usher in the festivities and by the time I have a full-blown case of "holiday fever," it's January again.

Another part of the difficulty for me is the lack of context for New Year's. It kind of sits on its own there at the end of December and following it is a long cold road called winter. But if we celebrated the Twelve Days of Christmas, New Year's could take it's place as one of the high points in the Season. True, there would still be winter afterward, but there would also be a little more time to adjust to the idea.

As it is, we're at that point where people talk about the year that's past and the one that's about to begin. From the perspective of our house, it's been pretty good. We moved to the country, I finally wrapped up the last of first year medical school courses and began second year, we're in good health, my wife can work from home, and gas prices are cheaper. For others, though, there is unemployment, the cost of heating oil to manage, and a lot of uncertainty.

I guess New Year's is kind of like standing in a doorway where you're neither outside nor fully inside. On one side of the door is what you've known and on the other side the potential for unpredictability. Maybe even more than Thanksgiving, it can be a day for simply being grateful that we've gotten through, that we've survived and shown we have the capability to keep on going. If the saying, "Whatever doesn't kill me, makes me stronger," is true, then a lot of us are stronger and the year to come had better watch out; we're ready for you.

In any case, may your New Year be one that is happier, more fulfilling and satisfying, than all of ones that have gone before!