Goodbye 2017

Remember at the end of 2016 we were all saying that 2017 had to be better? Well, you see how that turned out. So I'm not going to say that 2018 will be better or even that I hope it will be better. I believe in thinking positive but years have a way of saying, "Oh yeah, I'll show you." But anyway, 2017 wasn't actually all that bad for me personally and if I never watched the news, read the news, or heard anyone talking about the news it probably would have seemed like a pretty good year.

Christmas was nice. I got to spend it with the important people in my life and I got some nice stuff and ate too much. I always look forward to Christmas but I'm always relieved when it's over and I can relax and get back to my normal routine. On the other hand, the coldest weather of the season is often right after Christmas and I really freaking hate cold weather.

I don't make New Year's Resolutions. Resolutions are so formal and you feel guilty when you don't keep them. Why do that to yourself? I do think about things I want to do in the coming year though and it's always pretty much the same. Read more, sew more, see extended family more often (though that one's not entirely up to me) eat less, exercise more, spend less time on Facebook. Actually, this year I did spend less time on Facebook but that was more than offset by spending more time on Twitter.

Sometimes I wish we didn't number the years or keep track of them in any way. They just go by faster and faster the older we get and help to make us notice that we're getting older. I don't even know what it would be like if we didn't number the years. Maybe it's one of those things we have to do whether we like it or not.

The Christmas Song

The Best Week of the Year

Well, we did that Christmas thing. We all got a lot of nice stuff and ate too much and spent the day just hanging out. It wasn't a white Christmas; in fact it was more like mid-spring. All in all, it was a really awesome day.

And someone got this for Christmas:

I wasn't sure about what kind of reaction this would get. A quilt isn't a typical gift for a 17 year old young man but he loved it. I also managed to finish another gift quilt that I had been working on for years so now I am between projects and that just feels wrong but at the same time I don't feel especially motivated to start anything else. At least I don't feel motivated by any one particular project but I will start something in a day or two. Right now there are books to be read and Mythbusters Mega-Marathon to be watched.

And speaking of Mythbusters, did you see that they're bringing it back with new people? There is going to be a "search" series first, to pick the next generation of Mythbusters. I have mixed feelings about this. I think the world really needs Mythbusters. We will never run out of myths to bust. But so much of the appeal of Mythbusters was the people so a new set of people? I don't know. I'm sure I will eventually get used to whoever ends up on the new Mythbusters but it will never be the same.

At the top I called this the best week of the year but is it really? The weeks before Christmas are pretty fun for me and there are other weeks of the year that are just as nice in their own ways but there's just something about this week when all of the busyness is done and there's nothing that has to get done in a hurry... And sometimes it can actually be sort of boring and, in some years, even a bit of a let-down but I suppose, like any other week, it's mostly whatever kind of week you choose to make it and this year I choose to make it about drinking tea, reading, and watching Mythbusters.

Hallelujah

A Little Christmas Music

Carol of the Bells has been one of my favorite Christmas songs since I was a child. I have always been extremely picky about it though. It must be sung by a proper choir and they must sing it "right," meaning exactly like I heard it when I was a child. Needless to say I don't find a version that meets with my complete approval very often. However, in the past couple of years I have become fascinated with instrumental versions. Here's a nice one.