Usually the week between Christmas and New Year’s is a very busy, bustling and happy time around here.

There is lots of visiting, laughing, munching and merry making going on.

But this year has been very quiet.

As you know, my Mister had surgery on December 12th and he spent the time up until Christmas either recovering in his favorite chair or working quietly from home.

He recovered fairly quickly and was set to go back to work the day after Christmas.

But then he and my youngest son caught a flu bug and both were sick on Christmas evening.

The son got better quickly but not my Mister.

Lots and lots of coughing after an abdominal surgery is no fun. I felt bad for him and was pretty sure his flu bug had turned into bronchitis. So I took him to urgent care on Saturday night to get some medicine to help the coughing go away.

I was right, it was bronchitis. We were able to find a 24 hour pharmacy and get some medicine in him and he’s slowly mending. Again.

And I’ve been a little bit sick myself. Nothing serious, but just enough to knock some of the wind out of my sails.

So it’s been an unusually quiet week this year.

Some years are like that. Nothing you can do.

I find myself looking at the date today and wondering where this last week or two of 2012 has gone. It’s a blur of decorating, baking, cooking and caring for the sick.

Quiet, TV watching, tea drinking, napping.

Slow.

We’ll be having our annual New Year’s Eve party tonight (unless Mister is feeling too badly) with those crazy kids above. It won’t be as fancy or as rowdy as in years past. Mister may not even make it until midnight.

I seriously thought about canceling it but I want to see those faces tonight. To say goodbye to 2012 and hello to 2013 with them. It’s become a tradition here to celebrate with family.

Even if I had to be in a bubble and couldn’t hug them at all I’d want to see the faces of the people I love so much tonight.

(Now I have an image in my head of all of us in a big room, each person in their own bubble, bouncing, bumping into one another and laughing hysterically. How do I make THAT happen?)

So goodbye 2012. Thank you for everything.

Thank you for the difficult times and the times of pure joy.

Thank you for abundance, gratitude, peace, fulfillment.

Thank you for my family and good friends.

Thank you for this space to write, share and be creative with like minded souls.

Thank you for all of the good things to come in 2013.

May 2013 be a year filled with much abundance, love and bright blessings for all of you.

Vicki O’Dell

The Creative Goddess