A New Year and a look back at Christmases

This year we almost missed the New Year altogether watching a Netflix movie.  We tuned on ABC at the last minute to watch the ball drop in Times Square and have a big kiss and a snuggle.  No hats, not horns, no champagne.

 In the 70's (maybe 1971or '72)  , I got the flu on New Year's Eve and didn't wake up until  January 2nd, sick as a dog in a bed (my pull out sofa)  that was drenched from my sweat.  

And one New Year (1974 maybe?) when Ellen and I went out to the coast with my little dog Yoni and drank champagne in the blustery sunshine.  And another when I went to San Jose to stay with my aunt Carol and we went out new year's eve to a club.  She got carded, and I didn't.  DEVASTATING since carol is five years older than me!!!

So now it is 2011.  I remember when I was a teenager thinking about the year 2000 and wondering what life would be like when I was (for God Sake) 53 years old.  Ancient at the time.  Would there be space ships? Clothing made of aluminum foil?  Would we all have antennae coming out of our heads?  Well, no such luck, although we now DO have cell phones sticking out of our ears (except for me -- I have hardly turned on my new cell phone since I replaced my work phone with a private one), wear "body art" (and I shudder to think what THAT will look like when these kids are in their 60's and 70's), and are increasingly turning to hybrid and  even electric cars (let's see how long THAT lasts -- I read in the paper today that sales of the new Chevy Volt and Honda Leaf have been disappointing).

So THIS year my resolutions will be mild.  I have tackled my hard ones without a new year (unless you can call retirement a new year) to motivate me -- quit smoking (6 months TODAY), began exercising (at least 5 days per week for a half hour or more each time), and losing weight (25 down and 25 more to go).  In 2011, I want to:
     1. Write in my blog at least twice a week
     2. Volunteer or contribute at least once per month
     3. Clean out one drawer/shelf per day throughout the house until I have done them all
     4. Remember everyone's birthday and special days (anniversary, etc) this year
     5. Host at least one party (not counting the gathering of the goddesses).

I think I can pull these off.

About Christmas:  It's funny that I can remember almost nothing about my childhood Christmases except for the Christmas I had the flu -- I  must have been about six or seven -- and th Christmas I got my big rubber doll, Sandy -- when I was about four, I think.  I also remember going to midnight mass with Grandma Haebig and the smell of the incense in church and the mystery of it all.  In my house growing up, holidays meant drinking and drinking meant stress and bad behavior. On New Year's Eve, mom and dad went out and brought home all of the party hats and horns for us to play with the next day until they fell apart. Somewhere I have a picture of us with those hats and horns, and our neighbors the Cappelinas sitting on the couch. I was wearing checkered overalls (which we called "harryhalls") and was maybe five or six.

This is the Christmas I had the flu - Age 5 or 6 

This is the Christmas we got the merry go round 

No child safety laws then!  I was maybe 3 years old in this one. That merry go round stayed

out in our backyard for at least five years after that Christmas.  

I remember Christmas in 1974 when I went home to Wisconsin.  I had my rabbit fur jacket and my hair permed into an afro (what was I thinking?) and I took everyone (my Mom, sisters and their two kids both under the age of six) to see the Nutcracker in Chicago.  The kids got restless after about 15 minutes  but I didn't mind. That was the Christmas I visited with some of my high school friends including Judy Looker and Sharon Naydihor.  And I got my Fry boots (at Goldblatt's in Racine). That was a Christmas when I was single.   Then there was the Christmas (1970?) when Loren Thornton and I drove down to LA in our  1957 Volvo to visit Loren's sister, who was mucho pregnant. Her water broke while we were there at her house in Malibu!  And her husband had this long powder blue Cadillac convertible. When we drove back, the Volvo conked out in Paso Robles and we hitchhiked home with our luggage, Christmas presents, and our little dog Yoni.  We road most of the way in a VW van that smelled heavily of patchouli mixed with pot.    And I remember another Christmas when I was single on the Russian River and had the blues SO BAD.  I had this tiny plastic tree I plugged in that looked so forlorn.  And another Christmas on the River when I bought a little tree and decorated it with red glass hearts trimmed in gold glitter, determined to celebrate in spite of my loneliness. 

Any how, welcome to 2011 and I look forward to an exciting, entertaining, educational, exhilarating  year!!!!