January is a highly under-rated month. Now that the hubbub of the holidays is over and I have time to reflect again, I realize that it’s one of my favorite points in the year. I find a comforting calm in the month rather than the post-holiday letdown some of you experience.
We reached the dark bottom of the year, meteorologicaly speaking, in December, and now we’re on our way back up to the light and warmth of spring—if you don’t count this week’s weather. And I don’t want to rush spring anyway. This is the one month I can wear my winter clothes!
All this month there’s a sense of things being put right again after a time of chaotic holiday over-exertion. I was happy to box up and store the Christmas decorations for another year and see my house again!
In January it feels right to get in early out of the dark that gathers as you drive home from work to be with your family. It’s nice to be watching TV at 7:00 at night instead of feeling that you still have two hours of yardwork you could be doing before the sun goes down at 9:00.
January gives me a sense of a fresh start, even without the unattainable New Year’s resolutions I stopped making years ago. Regular church activities and club meetings start again and bring people back together. My friends and I are waddling back into the gym for aerobics to repair the damage inflicted by too much fudge and pecan pie.
Our food is back to normal. We’re tired of turkey and dressing and ham and green bean casserole. A hamburger is good again, or fried catfish and hushpuppies.
School resumed after the Christmas vacation, and the kids were actually happy to be there, for a day or two anyway. It’s a new semester, and this time you can really get those grades up like you’ve been promising your folks. Your team can start all over on that drive toward a championship.
Store owners in the county are happy for the Christmas income but glad for a slower pace in which to take inventory, clean up and take a breather.
My comfortable routine of life has begun again with this flip of the calendar to 2024. The holidays are fun, but my internal clock ticks better when I’m on a normal schedule and there’s not a single party on my calendar or piece of fruitcake on my plate. I look forward to the meetings I’m beginning to pencil in again to replace the social events of December. And I’m glad I no longer have to figure out which Christmas sweatshirt to wear to what.
About this time of year, you realize that some things came to an end at midnight on December 31. Goodbye to the old income tax year. Maybe this one will be better. Goodbye to that time-consuming committee you rolled off of. Goodbye to a whole year’s worth of mistakes that you don’t have to keep making.
Nope, I’m not nostalgic for 2023.
Instead, January reminds me that I have a whole new page to write on. I’m excited about what could happen. This is a month that gives me hope.
Just think what could happen this year! This may be the year you really do lose weight, eat more fiber, clean out the garage!
Maybe this will be the year that Russia gives up on Ukraine. Maybe the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be settled soon. Maybe the stock market will rebound enough in ‘24 to replace the money you’ve lost from your retirement account. Maybe Trump’s legal troubles will end.
You’ve made all the required holiday visits and survived encounters with all the relatives who irritate you. Now you don’t have to see them again until next year! And by next year, anything could happen! Like, Cousin Lukey could suddenly develop some refinement and stop blowing milk out his nose at the table. Aunt Lootie Mae could stop pulling up her shirt to show you the scars from her surgery.
With the Christmas decorations back in the attic, you can see where there’s room for improvement in your home decor. Maybe this is the month to move the furniture and put down that new floor. This could be the time to scrub that space behind the toilet and dust the blinds or sort out that closet that has intimidated you for years.
Check the January sales. This is the month that winter clothes get cheaper and stores are having white sales. You could replace those tattered towels and get that jacket that was too expensive last fall. And if you didn’t go too crazy with the credit card in December, maybe you can spend this month’s check on yourself!
We’ll elect a new president this year in the most important election our nation has ever conducted. Maybe this will be the year of returning to sanity. Well, we can dream.
You have half a month left to enjoy. You can’t sit back and smell the roses, because they don’t grow too well in January, so just sit back and enjoy life on the slower side.
But do it soon. This new year will speed up soon enough.
