Happy New Year!

Yes, daffodils are already coming up in our front yard.

They must be as confused as we have been by the alternating cold and warm weather of the past couple of months. But they take on a special, if unseasonable, significance poking their heads up from the soil on New Year's Day.

Whether or not you follow the tradition of making New Year's resolutions, can you escape the sense of newness that comes with this day? The putting up of new calendars, the getting used to writing 2007 instead of 2006, the reminder that at least in some things, we really can start over, we really can make changes, we can live differently from the way we have?

I can't. The newness and hope somehow change the air I breathe on this day.

We took our dogs for a walk yesterday, and from the time we left our front door to the time we returned, the temperature must have dropped about ten degrees. At least it does feel like January today, waking up to 30-something degrees rather than the 70's of the past week. I welcome the brisk air, clear sunshine, and the opportunity to dress as if it is winter (well, okay, more like fall). This, too, fits with the day, the New Year, the freshness of new beginnings.

When we returned from our walk yesterday, our kitchen floor was flooded. It took a few hours to mop up, clean up, go to Home Depot, clear the clog that caused it all. Not what we had planned for New Year's Eve.

On Christmas Day, we walked into our dining room to find a circle of fire in the middle of our dining room table. They don't put "do not leave burning candle unattended" on every candle for no reason. We lost a tablecloth and a beloved glass plate in the process, but water put the flames out easily, for which we were very thankful.

So, with both fire and flood behind us, we figure 2007 can only bring better things. But even if it brings more fire and flood, we know we can handle it!

And some day--some day--the Creator and Sustainer of the daffodils will make all things new. That's the calendar page I most look forward to turning. And at the top on my list of resolutions is to live in anticipation of that day.

Happy New Year!