Though nominally a "Christmas Carol," there's one verse in Deck the Halls that's appropriate to today...
fast away the old year passes, fa la la la la la la la lahail the new, ye lads and lasses, fa la la la la la la la la
They pass away faster and faster all the time, those old years, whisking by at warp speed. We don't go in for big celebrations here on New Years Eve...an evening at home much like any other, perhaps enhanced with a glass of champagne if we happen to have a bottle around (which we did this evening, by the way :) There were shows queued up on TiVo (Prime Suspect, the final episode, which I'd never managed to watch clear through), and the whistling wind outside lent us a feeling of smugness, curled up as we were with blankets and warm puppies.
Looking back on the long march of days just passed in this year 2008, the memories that stand out are not large ones, but small moments in time that seem quite symbolic of this life in general. Moments like those we've spent tonight, just being together, moments which go a long ways toward easing some of that fierce discontent I was writing about earlier in the week.
It's funny, isn't it, how one's perceptions change with age, how a "good time" at 25 can be completely antithetic to ones concept of fun at 50?
As we hail the new year so close upon us, I'm doing my best to sing a cheery "fa la la la la la la la la" in the face of sour thoughts and weary aggravations. Perhaps I'll make that my mantra for 2009 ~ what d'you think? My version of Scarlett O'Hara's "fiddle de dee, I'll just think about that tomorrow."
But, oh, those tomorrow's have a way of appearing before we know it, don't they?
joyous now we sing together, fa la la la la la la la la
heedless of the wind and weather, fa la la la la la la la la.
May the winds of the new year be calm, the weather be fair, and may you have much joyous singing.