It is Sunday, January 3 and there are only 42 days until Valentine’s Day.  The candy and decorations are already out in the stores, so get busy shopping.  Today we remember the birthdays of William Tucker, Lucretia Coffin Mott and George Martin.  On this day in 1777 Washington defeated the British at the Battle of Princeton, in 1831 the first US building and loan association was organized, in Frankford, PA, and in 1958 Edmund Hillary reached the South Pole, overland.  It is Admission Day in Alaska.

Happy New Year!  I hope you all had a great holiday.  We spent New Year’s Eve quietly this year.  We did not go out anywhere because it seems that as our friends get older, they have less inclination toward celebrating something that requires you to stay awake until midnight.  We were fine with that for the same reason.  The lovely Elaine and I felt that we were good just staying awake long enough to watch the ball drop.  Shortly after it was over, after we had wished each other a happy New Year (our 45^th New Year’s Eve together), she sent texts to our friends and spoke to our son on the phone and then went to bed.  I followed a short time later.  I needed to have my strength up so that I could sit, drink my coffee and watch the Rose parade in the morning.

I have been reading articles in the paper that have been telling me about the best and worst of a number of things for 2015.  That is one of the drawbacks to reaching the end of the year.  Everyone feels it is necessary to rehash all the things that we have dealt with throughout the year.  It just seems to me that once something has happened and we have dealt with it, we should let it go and move on.  When we get to this time of the year, I am always reminded of George Carlin and his character, The Hippy-Dippy Weatherman.  His year-end weather report was:

“The year started out cold and we had wind and some snow.  Then it started to warm up a little and flowers grew and trees got leaves.  Then it got really hot and there were some thunder storms.  Then things started to cool down, the flowers died and the leaves fell of the trees.  Then it started to get really cold again.  And it looks like next year will be more of the same.”

Every year you hear people talking about making resolutions.  They resolve to lose weight, stop smoking, stop drinking, get more exercise, be nicer to people and on and on.  In the past I have made resolutions that I knew would be simple to keep.  I resolved things like no longer saying, “You go girl” to myself and things like that.  This year I decided to not even waste my time.  I could have resolved to eat better, being mindful of my diabetes or to make sure that I walked every day, but that would have been a waste of time.  Shortly after midnight, as I was mindlessly watching TV, I went to the kitchen and got myself some cookies to celebrate the new year.  When I got up this morning, I was still suffering from the lingering effects of a cold I have dealing been with and decided not to walk.  There are two resolutions shot before the new year was even 12 hours old.  Oh well.

Realistically, I have always felt that the whole New Year’s resolution thing was a bit silly.  If you feel that you need to lose weight, why wait until January 1 to start working on it.  You should start when you look in the mirror or step on the scale and realize you need to do something.  If you get on the scale on November 3^rd and think, “O-o-h, I really need to do something about my weight,” why would you wait two months to get started?  If you need to do something, do it.  You can always resolve to continue doing it in the new year.

We are now coming into the time of year when there are a number of things happening all at the same time.  We still have the car companies trying to convince us to buy a new car.  Pretty soon we will have the faux Washingtons and Lincolns selling us everything from toothpaste to clothing to jewelry to – yep, you guessed it – cars.  Mixed in with all of that we will have jewelers and candy companies and florists wanting us to spend money on stuff for our valentines, too.   And of course the car dealers will want you to buy your valentine a car.  

I have asked this question in the past and have yet to get a good answer, but here goes.  You have been dating the same person for almost a year and have decided, in a fit of magnanimity, to succumb to the ads and buy that person a car.  If that person decides that the two of you are done, for whatever reason, a day or two later, do they have to give the car back?

My advice is to not worry about buying things for Presidents Day.  If you are buying something for your valentine, there are two ways to go.  If you are a female, you can buy the guy pretty much anything.  Buy him a tool, a six pack of artisan beer, or anything with a scantily clad woman on it and he will be happy.  

If you are a male, be very, very careful.  Buy her flowers and a small piece of jewelry like earrings.  Buy her a nice bracelet and a small box of a special kind of candy (preferably something you know she will like) or something else that shows you put some thought into it.  You can also get her a gift card to a spa.  Do not, let me repeat this, DO NOT buy her something useful.  This is a day to show her how special she is.  Make the gift something she will remember fondly, not something she will talk about followed by the phrase, “… the jerk.”  As that day draws closer, we will revisit this advice.

This week our fact tells us that the average person spends 12 weeks a year “looking for things.”  The lovely Elaine and I have beaten that just since we moved into our new house.  There are some things we still have not located, but know they are around somewhere.

Have a great 2016!