It’s hard for me to write anything about Christmas without coming across as cynical and bitter and old and jaded and all that stuff.

So I won’t.

I’m thankful for Frank and for Bayley and for David and all my other friends. I’m thankful for my nice, comfortable warm home and a full stomach. I’m thankful for still being alive and that some people still want to put up with me.

I’m thankful for the opportunity to have some impact on childrens’ lives in the classroom. I’m thankful for the opportunity to get my master’s degree at one of the Empire’s premiere educational institutions.

I love the snow, my new Jeep, and sitting around all weekend watching movies with Frank. I love my bicycle, my leather chair and cuddling up to a warm beagle between us on a cold wintry night.

I’m thankful to start a new year and have more adventures.

I hope to get a handle on the arthritis in ‘05. I hope to lose 20 pounds and be in better shape so I can be a bike stud next summer. I hope to make it through my April sojourn in Oklahoma more or less intact. I hope to be able to get my grad program successfully underway and halfway done by this time next year. And I hope to not get creamed by a Michigan driver in ‘05.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.