New Year, New Decade, New Friends . . . some old tendencies

I love New Year's Day. I used to love New Year's Eve and the great parties with our friends; the Eve is still pretty great, although the parties have been replaced by family board games and Evan almost always wins. But New Year's Day represents a new beginning, a fresh start, a clean slate. And I love the idea of a fresh start.

The problem, of course, is that it's really only an idea. I don't wake up on New Year's Day with my procrastination and disorganization magically vanished. I am not suddenly more patient and kind. I still can't find my camera.

I am learning to appreciate New Year's Day as a time for reflection and an encouragement to assess my life, rather than a dramatic reboot. Today, we started what we hope will be a new tradition on New Year's Day: brunch with New Friends. It was lovely to share the first day of the new year with Josh, Keely, and Salem, and we all hope this will be the first of many gatherings with them. I was going to document this new tradition in pictures . . . but as noted above, I still can't find my camera.

Rather than be a completely boring post with all words and no pictures, I'll include this, one of my favorite pics from 2009. It's the perfect encapsulation of Dave and the boys leaving church. (h/t: Naomi & Lydia, the photographers)