Is there any doubt that the week between Christmas and New Years (Year’s?) Day is the very best week of the year? It is a time for family, relaxation, friends, sloth, overindulgence, and of course, long naps. Many offices/jobs slow down a bit and if you do have to go in, traffic is normally lighter. Christmas—the most wonderful time of the year—is over, which is ok, because if you’re like me, you probably overdid it a little. I’m looking around the mancave right now, thinking that Tuesday is the target day for packing all this joy and merriment away.
The girls are here from their corners of the hemisphere, and it has been wonderful. They are getting used to the fact that there are no dogs here anymore, and we talk about it quite a bit. I’d be lying if I said things were no different without them, the pups. Things are VERY different. If I spend any real time on it, I am made sad. So I don’t. Or won’t.
Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, and I will spend the morning watching geese mock me as they fly overhead, then I’ll take to the mancave for the drudgery of end of month admin, which doubles this time of year into end of year admin. Still not enough to make this week anything but the best of the year,
I am not much of New Year’s Eve guy. My father’s (certainly unoriginal) statement that “New Year’s Eve is for amateurs” rings in my head as I contemplate the event, but as he was certainly “an amateur” when it came to partying, I think he used it as a defense mechanism to cover up being a curmudgeon. As I am more comfortable in my curmudgeonry than he, I’m happy to say that if nothing pops up on the next day and a half, I’ll be asleep by 2200hrs like any other night.
Resolutions
I’ve been doing this blog/Substack thing for a long time now, and most years I do a “Resolutions/Predictions” post. Here are a few resolutions:
I resolve to curse less. I have potty mouth, and it is unbecoming.
I resolve to read more. I’m on pretty good trajectory right now, as I’ve amped up my reading considerably lately. Fast friend General Dan helped out by mailing me a new history of Handel’s “Messiah”.
I resolve to continue my carnivore/keto approach to eating for as long as my lab work remains A+, my weight continues to decline, and my various joint aches remain quiescent.
I resolve to be less judgmental, or at least to be less vocal in my judgments.
I resolve to be a better helpmate to Catherine.
Predictions
The S&P 500 will be lower on January 1, 2026 than it is on January 1, 2025.
Snowfall in the mid-Atlantic states between 1 Jan and 15 March 2025 will be greater than any year in the past 10.
The NCAA Men’s Basketball Champion will NOT come from the SEC.
China and the United States will not be at war, but we will have had at least one “war-like” exchange.
Senator Mitch McConnell will rise to American Hero status as he serves out the remainder of his term.