Happy New Year!

I know it was 6 days ago, but I’m only now ready to kick off the vacation blanket I’ve been under since December 20. It’s not a literal blanket, except for some of every day when it is absolutely a literal blanket and a cup of coffee (or glass of wine) and a Breaking Bad marathon.

Mostly, however, it’s the figurative blanket of Christmas, family, no school, and little-to-no schedule. I am having a hard – nearly impossible – time peeling off this blankie, but it desperately needs to go in the washing machine, and I suppose it’s time to get back to real life.

I planned to write a wrap-up or resolutions post, but then there was that Breaking Bad marathon. And queso.

Regarding the queso, our four main food groups over the holidays looked a little like this: Tortillas (flour, corn, chips), Dips (guacamole, queso, black eyed pea), Chocolate, and Cocktails. The children did not have cocktails; please don’t call the authorities. No, the children had hot chocolate. Good lord, our diets were not pretty over the break. (I promise we ate some healthy stuff every day, but there was an abundance of the not as healthy… an abundance.)

Because we ate like college kids for over two weeks, Mark and I are now on an herbal cleanse. If I see you out somewhere and don’t acknowledge you, it’s because everything and everyone I look at resembles a tortilla chip. All I can see is delicious, fried tortillas, dipped in delicious, melted cheese and fresh salsa. I may be struggling a bit with this cleanse and the return to our healthier ways.

There are not enough calories traveling to my brain to write a sufficient summary of 2013, but I’ll tell you, it was a good year. Sure, there are some things I’d rather forget, like the 827 times I got sick. Come to think of it, I ate healthily all year and got sick repeatedly. Then I ate craptastically over the holidays and wasn’t sick at all. Coincidence? Honey, throw out that herbal crap and order us up some tacos!

Anyway, as with any year, there were ups and downs. When I look back through the filter of time (a whole 6 days now) I see happy kids, a marriage of nearly 17* years, the adoption of the most ridiculous mystery dog, improv classes, a half marathon, time with extended family and dear friends. And more.

It was a full year, one in which I caught a glimpse of my life to come, which is to say I will eventually have wheels on my rear end from driving kids to activities. I hate the schedule juggling and the driving, but I love watching my kids play or sing or whatever it is we’ve driven to on any given day.

I also caught glimpses of the older, independent people my boys will soon be. I hated that a little bit, as well. But I’m not going to lie, it’s a thrill to be less intimately involved with the daily bathing, dressing, and other hygeinic needs. A thrill. I will never miss wiping behinds. I will miss four-year-old hugs and declarations of, “I’m going to marry you, Mommmy, because you are the BEST mommy ever!” I will miss seven-year-old knock-knock jokes and verbatim recountings of Lego Chima episodes. But I will not miss daily battles to get small people clean and dressed. Well, I won’t miss it much.

So here’s to 2014. It’s the year I turn 40, so I think it’s going to be a-okay, this year. May you and yours be blessed enormously in 2014, and as always, thanks for stopping by to read.

Hope your holidays were magical. Merry, merry… just a few weeks late.

*That marriage has now hit 17 years, but not until January 4, 2014.