Is it summer yet?

After lots of serious thought I have come to a conclusion about the new year. It arrives at a really, really lousy time.

I know the holidays can be stressful to some. I bet more people enjoy the time of year we come together for lots of celebrations. I love Halloween so how about we start there.

Halloween, what could be more fun then this? Kids and adults alike have a wonderful excuse to dress up in costume for an evening. We can be anyone we want, lose most of our inhibitions, go out to a party and just have fun. Kids get to grab a pillowcase, or a fancy bag or bucket and go out trick or treating. And the best thing, we all have a great excuse to eat candy over the next few weeks.

Thanksgiving, just when we are getting sick of all the candy we get to stuff ourselves with great food. It's a time of meeting with extended families to give thanks for all we have. Turkey and stuffing, yams and smashed potatoes. Food and football, it doesn't get much better than that.

Then we come to Christmas. All the decorations around the house and the gifts inside. Shopping for just the right present and planning all the nice surprises takes weeks of our time. We also have another reason to get together with friends and family and share all off our blessings.

Following up these last two months we then get to New Years Eve and New Years Day. Some go out, other stay home. New Years Eve is a night for celebration, It's the end of one year, a new beginning of another. You can wipe the slate clean making promises for better things to come. New Years Day, the Rose Parade and beautiful displays, more football than any one person can watch. Leftovers from whatever your traditional last nights meal happens to be. A day to reflect and rejoice.

Then come January 2nd. School is back in session, work too. All the pretty lights and decorations are gone.We start seeing ads for Turbo Tax and know our tax bill is just around the cornor. In most places it's cold and snowing. Or, maybe, raining and foggy. It's probably grey and depressing wherever you happen to be. No matter what, the weather stinks. We'll be lucky if the sun makes an appearance two days in a row. There really isn't much to look forward to unless you like Valentines Day.

I think things would be much, much better if we changed New Years Day to July 4th. We could celebrate the new year and the birthday of our nation at the same time. And, when we started the new year, at least it would be warm.

I got an e mail from my cousin Lynne this afternoon. She asked me about the coffee cream "stuff." She suggested I read the label and maybe start using real cream. Well, I read the label on the International Delight. I can't spell, pronounce, or remember all but one of the ingredients, Palm Oil. I was drinking this stuff? Probably makes for a pretty good sun tan lotion. Next trip to the grocery store I think I'll pick up some cream.

Tomorrow i think I am going to revisit one of our cruise vacations.