Happy New Year!

When I was a kid, I always wanted to stay up until midnight to ring in the new year. Nowadays, if it's the new year somewhere in the world, that's good enough for me! We drank our champagne while we cooked dinner, and were in bed by 10:30!

We're starting 2010 with colds here: fevers, sore throats, runny noses, the whole wonderful deal. But you know what? That's OK. Really, I'm taking it as a reminder to slow down and stop trying to do everything perfectly. This year I'm trying to turn down the stess-o-meter and make more realistic goals for myself and our family. There will be time to learn; we don't have to cover the entire scope of human knowledge this month! There will be days when the kids are excited, cooperative, and interested in their work and there will be days when we just plod through the lessons and eventually give up and go to Starbucks. There will be days when our house is a chaotic mess, and there will be days when I (almost) feel like I've got it together. This is life, and the more I try to control every detail of it, the less I enjoy it.

Last night Dad and I cooked a great dinner together. This is one of our goals for 2010: to spend at least one evening a week in the kitchen together. We used to have a lot of fun trying out new recipes, especially ethnic cuisine. Over the years we have made Thai dishes, Indian curries, German pastries, Japanese tempura, and even sushi. Somehow, cooking together moved to the back burner (sorry!) and the goal became just getting dinner on the table. This year, we're hoping to put the fun back into it, get the kids involved, and enjoy being in the kitchen together. Last night we made a super easy eggplant parmigiana from Mario Batali's Molto Italiano cookbook. It was fun to cook together (especially while sipping our champagne six hours early!)

This morning we're sipping our coffee, blowing our noses, and watching the Rose Bowl parade together. (Ohmygosh! Did you see the snowboarding bulldogs?!) At some point, I might maybe possibly work up the energy to do a bit of laundry or pick up the living room. But if I don't, that's OK, too.

We have so much to be thankful for: our family, our home, our freedom, our happy, peaceful days. This wonderful country, this beautiful world. May we never lose sight of what is truly important. Make 2010 whatever you want it to be, and have a happy, healthy, fun, peaceful, delicious, sensational year!