Its the end of the year as I know it...

So REM "End of the World" is running through my mind. Only I change the lyrics from "its the end of the world as I know it" to "end of the year".  Right, you with me now?

The Christmas Season came in like a lion and went out like a lion.  Grandma Spaid always told me time would fly fast the older I got. Boy was she right. Sure wish I could tell her how right she was.  Perhaps she already knows.

Every year I like to take photos of the ornaments on my tree.  I like remembering when I bought them, or who gave them to me, or how they came to live on my tree.

This one I have no idea who gave it to me or where it came from. It showed up one Christmas and it's never left.  I do love it though.  Even out of focused.

This is one of my favorites. I bought it for my little sister one year for Christmas. And, well, you can see it never made it to her. It's my favorite Seattle painting.  I don't know the artist...oh wait...I might.  Its called "Smile at the Rain" by Beth Hendrickson Logan (even though this site says Beth Logan Hendrickson - the actual painting in my bathroom says Hendrickson Logan - either way...it's a favorite)

This is my super large, super heavy stocking hanger.  I wish I had bought two of them at the time, but I only needed one - for Pookie's stocking.  Now that I too have a stocking - which was hung by the fireplace with care - I wish I had two. 

My tree is 50% snowmen, 40% flamingos and 10% everything else.  Every year I try to buy myself a snowman or flamingo ornament. They can't be just any ornament, they have to be different.  This is this year's ornament.  He's colorful and fun!

Actual Christmas day I hot footed it to BigBro's house. I made this killer Caramelized Onions Au Gratin (or Hog Rotten as I call them) Potatoes - which spilled all over the trunk of the Stang and now it smells like potatoes in the car.  They were yummy.  Paired with the spiral ham and all the other trimmings...it was a good meal. Good clean family fun and good food.  The middle brother, which I'll call Cowboy Jerry, showed up (he's on my left)

Tomorrow, however, is the most important day of the year! It's my birthday!  That's right Forty TWO! I'm still trying to figure out how I got to be 42...it doesn't seem possible.  The MomUnit, bless her, told me today it's the 21st anniversary of my 21st birthday.  So the theme for next year? You got it, 21! 

I'm going to do 21 new things...As difficult as the 40 new things were a couple of years ago, I think 21 is way more doable.  I'm going to start the year off with this.

What? I'm a project manager. Are you at all surprised I would do a plan/annual review for myself.  BeagleBabe posted this to FB and I was like, "I'm all in."

So starting this weekend I'm putting together my plan.  I've been doing a lot of soul searching lately - could be the online dating thing that's causing it - and I've come up with a couple of good things to work on next year.