Holiday Melancholy/Optimism
Posted on | December 31, 2007 | 16 Comments
Each year I find myself relating less and less Christmas and more and more to New Year’s. In part due to the overt commercialism associated with the Christmas holiday, the perceived pressure and expectations, but also and perhaps more than anything due to one very large hole in my heart belonging to the person who helped tie my family together and make the holidays meaningful for us. So, I’ve been a little quiet this last week or two. I haven’t been knitting much, I haven’t been online, and I haven’t written at all (if I have been slow getting back to any of you, please accept my apologies!).
What I have been doing is spending excellent quality time sharing stories, laughing, talking and dreaming with my brother & his SO, whom we haven’t seen in more than a year. They’ve just returned from living and working in Armenia, where they had some amazing adventures. Having them home safely and getting to spend the holiday with them was the best Christmas gift we could have. Those kind of gifts always are.
Back to New Year’s. I know full well that we all have the freedom to start over every day, new beginnings are a mostly mental thing – blah, blah, blah. But for some reason the new year holiday always provides me with a sort of mental break, a specific time that encourages me to reflect, re-evaluate, and mentally regroup. This is the time of year when I am most generous and forgiving with myself as well as a time when I am hopeful for the future. I feel less pressure and sadness, and more excitement and anticipation for what the new year will bring. And I AM very excited about what this new year will bring!
So, since this is actually a knitting blog, here’s a retrospective of fibery things from the past year!
And a forecast that 2008 will be another wonderful year with lots more new things to learn, yarns and fibers to experience and wonderful people! I usually set some pretty specific goals, but this year I’m foregoing the list in favor of the flexibility to go where my knitting may take me and explore anything that I find interesting along the way. ;)
Thank you all for the incredible inspiration through all of your blogs, and your encouragement and support through your comments here over the last year. 2007 was the first year that I have been an active blogger, and I have become unexpectedly fond of this little space as another creative outlet and documentation tool – and SO fond of all of you that read and that I correspond with. A very Happy New Year to all of you! I hope that whatever holidays you may celebrate were filled with love and laughter and many new warm memories, and I wish you all the best in life and fiber pursuits in 2008.
See you next year!
—————-
Now playing: Asobi Seksu – New Years
via FoxyTunes
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16 Responses to “Holiday Melancholy/Optimism”
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mel
I knit, I spin, I hike, I love,
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December 31st, 2007 @ 4:33 pm
Happy New Year! I’m excited to read about all of your fibery goodness in 2008.
December 31st, 2007 @ 4:43 pm
Lovely thoughts..thanks…and Happy New Year to you too!
December 31st, 2007 @ 5:45 pm
I absolutely agree about Christmas and New Year! I like the freshness of New Year, and the ability to re-evaluate and start over if one wishes. Hope your 2008 is filled with warmth, hope and lots of knitting! Say, how did you get the lovely collage up? That’s a very neat visual retrospective!
December 31st, 2007 @ 6:22 pm
Sometimes our soul needs quiet. I find that the internet can be a mixed bag. I love the online community I’ve found through blogging which provides me motivation and companionship. But I also have a very real part of me that needs the relief from the constant ‘connection’ to technology.
Glad to hear your holidays with your friends and family were special. Good luck with your time of reflection and regrouping–I’m in that place myself.
December 31st, 2007 @ 6:28 pm
Happy New Year! I look forward to follow your adventures this year too! (yes, over here it’s already 2008)
December 31st, 2007 @ 8:44 pm
Hear hear! And a very happy new year to you too! And what a lovely photo retrospective.
January 1st, 2008 @ 6:48 am
Happy New Year, Mel. I hope you have a peaceful and happy 2008.
January 1st, 2008 @ 10:53 am
Happy New Year to you too!
January 1st, 2008 @ 12:15 pm
a happy 2008! hope you will be able to do everything you have your eye on…! ^-^
January 1st, 2008 @ 6:08 pm
Happy New Year. Here’s to stay quiet when you need to and celebrating the knitting.
January 1st, 2008 @ 11:21 pm
Happy new Year!
January 2nd, 2008 @ 10:30 am
Happy New Year and all the best to you!
Sounds like you had a great Christmas with your brother. It is so nice when things like that happen. We had a similar gift this year and it makes all the purchased things seem very insignificant.
January 2nd, 2008 @ 9:53 pm
Happy New Year, Mel! Nice picture collage. Do I detect a certain wee one from Maryland in your pictures? Cheers!
January 3rd, 2008 @ 10:47 am
I’m right there with you, feeling the sadness and the void. I always look forward to the holiday season being over. Yeah for the New Year and renewed optimism!
Glad to hear about the time spent w/ your brother.
Talk to you soon….
January 3rd, 2008 @ 2:01 pm
Oh, and here I thought that I was over the particular lure that is your Chuck’s Cabled Socks – but you just had to go and parade them past my fiber-loving heart one more time!
;)
I’m not the biggest fan of Christmas, but there is something so cleanly refreshing about the idea of a new start/clean slate that I too tend to fall in love with this time over and over again without fail……..
January 4th, 2008 @ 11:55 pm
what a beautiful photo collage! i’ve enjoyed this post and also your blog. best wishes for the new year and looking forward to seeing where your knitting adventures take you.