Season's Ending

Every year after the new year begins, I look for the end to the holiday season. Is it January 2 or later? Maybe the Monday after? I feel strange displaying holiday lights after New Year's Day, so even if we haven't taken everything down (you know how it is, sometimes those lights stay up weeks or months into the new year), I stop turning the lights on in the evening . But every year, I see others do it. It seems the more extravagant the light display, the longer it stays up. I appreciate having the beautiful lights to look at on the way home, but not as much as I did up through December 31. It just doesn't feel a bit stale, as folks start back at work and hunker down for the post-holiday winter quarter.

Speaking of the post-holiday winter quarter, since I have a few months of freedom, I've been looking for something to punctuate my days. So I started a regime on my new Wii Fit, one of the holiday gifts I received this season. Today was my first day, and considering I've never kept to a New Year's Resolution for more than two straight months and my fitness goal requires a 3-month long commitment, I'm hoping to make this new habit last a bit longer.

I'm also committed to finishing at least a book a week. I somehow whiled away December without finishing a second book (easy to do when your sister needs babysitting 3 afternoons a week, you commit to throwing 3 parties in that many weeks, and you take a 3-night vacation in Las Vegas). I've also indulged in a bit of reading ADD - allowing myself to jump back and forth between books - so I'll have to be more disciplined. As an English Lit graduate of Cal, I'm ashamed to admit it, and so hopefully motivated enough to exceed my (relatively conservative, unless my list includes Finnegan's Wake or Paradise Lost) goal.

Even though I won't have work to distract me from these goals, it won't be easy to do. Like with any good sabbatical, I'm making travel plans. Los Angeles in February, Japan and Hong Kong in March, and more if I can help it (New York in May?). Just listing off the cities is getting me excited.

I best go and help my husband take down the Christmas tree now.