Maybe my favorite holiday.

I love New Years.

The holiday season flies by at the speed of light, stress and angst at every corner.

In October, there's Halloween, in which the part of me that grew up Southern Baptist can never be comfortable celebrating, and the part of me that is a health food nut can never be okay with the candy consumption. But we jump in with both feet, costumes, trick-or-treating, candy and all.

In November, there's Thanksgiving, in which I feel the need to prove my domestic fabulousness, even though I'm the only one who really gives a rip, and my kids don't like anything but the turkey and dinner rolls. Oh yeah, and try to remember to um, be THANKFUL and stuff. But we count our blessings at least twice, three or four times if I'm really on top of it, and I try not to feel too guilty about whichever family we're not with this year.

In December, oh, it's a DOOZY! In December, I try to manage our budget while simultaneously buying or making a thoughtful gift for every single person we know, feel guilty about the not-thoughtful gifts, try not to give in to the stress of imperfections in the thoughtful gifts, forget to make dinner, forget to buy food in general, feel angsty about the whole Santa thing, forget to even PLAN a gift for at least three people, second guess the plan... And yell at my husband a lot for not being psychic. Oh yeah, and teach my children that WE LOVE CHRISTMAS because JESUS! YAY JESUS!

Dude. Here's why I love the new year:

Tomorrow, life will be boring.

For a couple months, we will work on re-establishing a rhythm. I will forget a bunch of minor holidays and shrug it off. Sometime in February, all the stuff we've been working on since August will start to come together. I will take deep breaths.

The days will start to get longer. Flowers and trees will bloom. I'll be able to find God in the slowness of not trying to make everything perfect for celebrations he never commanded anyway. Every New Year, I remember what faith feels like. What hope and optimism look like.

A New Year. Welcome, 2013.