Jeff Elkins Writing

I don’t know about you, but I’m in that weird transition period in which I’m both enjoying the holiday and I’m ready to get back to normal life. I enjoy the family time and flexibility, but I can feel deadlines creeping up on me. They are lurking in my early morning dreams. Shadows approaching, encroaching on my merriment.

Why yes, I am going back to therapy to help find new ways to deal with my anxiety in January. Why do you ask?

There is one final holiday left in my corner of the world – New Years Eve/Day. I don’t typically make it to midnight anymore. After I turned 40, staying up for the sake of staying up lost its luster. My teenagers will watch the ball and ring the New Year in for me as I fall asleep reading the David Sedaris book I received for Christmas.

When I was a kid, my parents would often have a special New Years Day celebration. Mom would make chili, friends would be invited over, and we would have college football bowl games playing on the TV. Since we live in a small house, my kitchen was destroyed last month by a dishwasher flood, and my crew doesn’t watch college football, the New Years Day Extravaganza is not a tradition we’ve continued. Although, we are having people over. I’m going to spend with some friends and my boys demolishing the rest of my kitchen in an attempt to save some money on the reconstruction of the kitchen. Remaining cabinets will be ripped out. Floors will be pulled up. It will be a jolly demo day as we strip the room down to its bones.

However you are spending New Years, I hope it is with people you love and who love you, doing something together you can at least all tolerate as you enjoy one another’s company.

Happy New Year!

Here’s to 2024!