Ready for a quiet new year

I’m trying to come out of my sugar-induced coma long enough to contemplate the coming week. I managed to bake my little heart out this year, in anticipation of the return of my son from college.
I didn’t even have to see him to know that he would need fattening up, and he does, so my conscience is clear. I was terribly proud of myself, as baking is one of the things I really, really intend to accomplish before Dec. 25, but rarely do. This year, our house was awash in lemon bars, seven-layer bars and sugar cookies. I only burned one batch. It’s sort of my ritual sacrifice to the cookie gods. While I claim it is for my children, it is a glorious time for a sweet-tooth like me.
On a separate note, things are looking up football-wise this Christmas. I recall wondering last year how many women between here and Denver weren’t speaking to their husbands or possibly children on Dec. 24. I know I was not the only mother who was thoroughly peeved after discovering that the NFL had destroyed family plans on a multi-state basis by scheduling a football game on Christmas Eve.
“Oh sure, honey! Never mind our traditional plans and preparations, the lovingly prepared meal or the visits from neighbors and friends. Who needs that when we can watch large men run around and hit each other?” Yeah, I’m sure that’s how it went.
It was a true test of my patience last year, but I finally decided it was worth sustaining family harmony to let my child go watch the game with his buddies. Shucks, there will always be another Christmas Eve when everyone is healthy and at home, right? It appears there is no game scheduled for Christmas Eve this year, which makes my holiday bright.
I always count my blessings that I don’t have the multiple families’ thing to deal with. I listened in amazement to a coworker on the phone saying, “Christmas Eve we’ll have lunch with his mother and that night we go visit my dad and his wife, then Christmas day we will have dinner with my cousins at his dad’s and then we’re going to my grandparents. We’ll see my mom on New Year’s Day.” I was exhausted just hearing it second-hand. It made me want to take a cruise and skip the holiday altogether.
With the mad, yet lovely Christmas preparation behind me, I am looking forward to New Year’s Day. New Year’s Eve I tend to crawl into bed early, as I have big plans for the next day. Having stocked up on good things to eat and drink, I am going to curl up by the fire with a good book, put my feet up and go absolutely nowhere. As a bookmark on my refrigerator says, all I want is “a little piece of quiet.”
As the New Year rolls in, my absolute favorite treat is not being on the road to anywhere. If you are going to be, make it low and slow. I need all my readers for the new year.