Happy New Year

One of the great benefits of living in Alaska is that the ball drops at 8pm on New Year's Eve and then you can just say "Happy New Year" and go to bed!

We watched the New Year ring in several times on Sunday evening, every hour as a matter of fact. By the time it was about to be our turn, I think they were gearing up to show a rerun of Chicago's countdown... So we succumbed to sleep at 11:30pm. Let's face it, how many times can you get excited over a 10-9-8.... countdown and a bunch of fireworks and confetti on a TV screen? At the time, catching zzzzz's seemed much more appealing!

As a matter of fact, I was able to catch a great number of zzzzz's over the past week since ending my employment at JCPenney. Finally! Back to the 7am-3pm workday with weekends to do with as I please! (Well... aside from running kids all over the place and attempting to put the house to rights...) At any rate, I've caught up on my sleep and then some... Ahhhhhh. Happy Relaxing Holidays.

If you too would like to experience holidays without stress or chaos, here's a tip: Move 5000 miles away from your extended family. And do it close enough to the holidays that you don't really have time to make many friends to clutter up your relaxation plan with parties and other stress-laden festivities.

There is of course, a trade-off, and it may or may not be worth it. But it's probably good for your health once every 5 to 10 years. If this plan is not an option, a strategically scheduled trip to Tahiti would probably also work well.