Out with the old, in with the new

Advice from mom
By Rita Lessard

I hope your Christmas went well. Tom and I were fortunate to celebrate on two occasions: once at our son’s place, whose wife is a great cook; and at my brother’s home, where we had another good meal and lots of fun. Of course, that’s what Christmas is about: family and merriment.
I received many lovely gifts. Casey thought I gave him some very useful presents, one being a new iPod. This surprised him because he hadn’t asked for one; I made a mistake when writing down his list. I didn’t know he already had one, and I bought him one that was better. I suggested he could take it back, but he decided to keep it, which was good for me because he gave me the one his brother gave his last year; I’m happy because I use it everyday when I go for my 3km walk.
I wonder sometimes if all the noise and sounds we hear have any bad effects on our hearing, but for centuries we’ve all had occasion to have what we call selective hearing. For example, how is it that the kids can always hear the ice cream truck coming up the road, yet they can’t hear you when you need the garbage taken out or the dishes done? Deaf again! If you were to pass gas a hundred yards away, you can bet your pay cheque they’d hear that.
As we welcome in the year 2008, let’s hope that by now most of you are not struggling with New Year’s resolutions. May I suggest that, instead of aggravating yourself with resolutions, you just resolve to do things one day at a time? Just for today, live the next 12 hours and tackle one problem for that day and not a whole year of problems. Just for today, learn something useful and make a change just for that day.
Although I’m giving this advice, I must confess I told my coworkers that this year I was going to be less critical. Hopefully I can stick with this resolution. Aim for the short-term instead of the long-term.
Regardless of the promises you’ve made to yourself, let’s hope 2008 will bring health and success to you all.

P.S. Thank you to the Crediton firemen for putting up the Christmas lights in the park.