goodbyes

I feel like Frodo Baggins at the end of The Return of the King: "It's gone. It's done." (Except I'm not standing on a rock surrounded by lava on Mount Doom, in need of a shower and a new index finger.) I never liked New Year's. Sure, as far back as playing Jeopardy on Brandon's Playstation at Y2K I can remember spending New Year's with my family and friends, watching the ball drop, eating shrimp, going to bed to Frank Sinatra's "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and wondering where the season went. This year I spent 4 hours with a group of people I didn't know, was too tired to eat shrimp when I came home, dismissed the ball-dropping because it had dropped an hour earlier, and went to bed a little after midnight without any Christmas lights on. I have yet to have that "one last time"-listen to "White Christmas."

The snow has been lovely, as has the time with my family. The traditions haven't stopped just because we're in a new house, but they feel different. Is that possible? Yes, I know it is. In a sense I feel very homeless, because school isn't home, and this isn't home. I love being with my family...but it's possible to feel out of place even when they're here.

Well my friends, it's time to say goodbye to Christmas and wish you all a happy beginning to 2008. I wonder what the year will bring? What things will be different this time next year?

We sing His praise this day of days and pray this time next year
we'll all be near to share the cheer of a Christmas auld lang syne