Auld Lang Syne (You Know, Like The New Year's Song)

Somehow another year has slipped past, and though I am sorely disappointed by the lack of hover-cars and robotic housekeepers that, according to my youthful imaginings, should have been plentiful by 2010, this will nonetheless be a monumental year for us.  Baby Bean is on his way and we cannot wait to meet him!

This year we've decided to adopt a new sort of  resolution.  Instead of upping our exercise routines or tapering off the sweets, we have resolved to try our darndest to be more charitable.  Our goal is to, once a month, volunteer a few hours of our time or make a modest monetary donation to a worthy charitable effort.  Some months we'll rummage through our overstocked cabinets and closets and pass on whatever we excavate to someone who might need it more.  This is something we have always talked about doing, but have never quite risen up to the challenge.  Here's to hoping 2010 is the year we do!

To kick off the new year, we contacted a Mission in San Diego that runs a number of charitable programs for our homeless.  I asked what they were lacking, and was surprised - and a bit saddened - to find what they needed most was essentials for babies and small children.  In light of how excited we are to become parents, it was sobering to learn so many young children have to rely on the compassion of strangers for those small items of necessity.  So on New Year's Eve we went to Target and picked up an assortment of bottles, rice formula, onesies, superhero underwear, and the like in hopes that a few children can start off their new year warm and well-fed. 
I hope you all have a happy, healthy, and fulfilling new year!

Jeff & Jenny

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can.  May your coming year be a wonderful thing, in which you'll dream dangerously and outrageously. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), I hope that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind.


And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.
 
~ Neil Gaiman