Looking Forward to 2009

2008 has not been my favorite year. There are a few years in my life I can look back and wish I could kind of wash over them. Forget they ever existed. I had a particulary bad year in college...another bad year right around graduating 8th grade into high school. I have my diary saved from those times, and always around December of those years I was looking forward to putting that particular year behind me.

2008 will go down as one of those years. I admit, it has taught me many things, but sometimes, I don't care about the lesson. I just want a family, a bigger family with bare feet running through the house, and dirty finger prints on the refrigerator. I don't care if I'm supposed to learn patience, or to not take the things in my life for granted. I don't take anything for granted, especially after 2008.

Yesterday, my mom came to the city so we could do something fun together. Since Kevin is still away for another week (will it ever end?) and my dad was leaving for a business trip Sunday night, she came down and we went to the Museum of Science and Industry to see the Christmas Trees from Around the World. It was great, because we didn't feel like shopping and spending more money, and it was fun to do something different. We walked in and it could have been the worst idea EVER as I felt like I entered Disney World with the amount of kids running around and babies crying. I toughened up and we walked around to see the Christmas trees.

The trees are pretty amazing, and it was fun to learn about what other countries do for Christmas. I was surprised to learn that many countries don't really exchange gifts until January 6th, when the 3 kings came to visit Jesus. Kind of makes sense...they gave gifts, so that's when you should give gifts. Just opened my eyes to how other countries spend the holidays and what traditions they have. I was also surprised to learn that many countries really do a lot for St. Nicholas day as well.

Reading the descriptions I also found that many countries believe in a deep cleaning of the house, children, bed linens, etc, before Christmas. I laughed at one country because it said, they believe the kids should get a good scrubbing and new, clean bed linens on everyone's bed! I love clean sheets on our bed as much as the next person, but never associated it with Christmas. Ireland believes in a deep house cleaning to wash away all the negativity from that year, and start the new year clean, fresh...and new.

As I start looking forward to 2009, I like that idea. I like the idea of leaving my negativity and sad feelings behind in 2008. I will never forget our struggle, but perhaps it's time to move on from that pain. You won't find me deep cleaning my house (Kevin would have a heart attack if he saw this happen anyway), but I think I will clean out my heart, my mind and my emotions. I think I've started this weekend with enough tears, and I think it's time to start with some new clean bed linens for 2009.