It’s officially 2026, and I don’t feel any different.
Not that I thought I would, but I thought I might at least have a little motivation to kick the year off right — a little gusto or something. I have a habit of setting myself up like this, though. I have high expectations and then let myself down.
I’m trying to create small wins for myself. This post being one of them. My hope is that momentum builds upon momentum — tiny habits become larger ones.
New Year’s Eve we watched the ball drop in New York, counted down with the proverbial millions, wished each other Happy New Year and then decided to watch one of the most bonkers holiday specials ever conceived.
I don’t know if you’ve ever seen “Rudolph’s Shiny New Year,” but it’s a must-watch. Apparently, in Rudolph’s world, each year has a physical manifestation in Father Time. He starts the year as a baby and ends it as an old man carrying a sickle. My working theory about this particular detail is that when it’s time for the new Baby New Year, he puts the hood of his cloak over his head, it turns black and he becomes Death.
Anyways…the new Baby New Year has disappeared. Apparently, he has huge ears (pictured above), and people tend to laugh at them, which, of course, hurts his feelings and makes him run off yet again.
So, Santa sends Rudolph on a mission to find him with a “real Clock Soldier,” which is apparently a big deal in Rudolph-world. I won’t go plot line by plot line, but Rudolph has to go through the time archipelago, a series of islands that are specific years in time, to find the baby. Along the way, he meets a caveman, this big camel/clock, a whale/clock and a knight (voiced on steroids by Frank Gorshin) and is chased by a giant bird called “Eon,” who wants to make sure the baby never gets to Father Time’s castle because his time is apparently up this year.
It’s every bit as surreal as it sounds, but it’s one of our favorite animated holiday specials.
Earlier this week, I saw “It’s a Wonderful Life,” another attempt to hang on to Christmas spirit long after it was over. I’ve been thinking about that movie ever since. It’s about a man who learns to be grateful for his life.
I love the part where he’s just come back to Bedford Falls after experiencing what it’s like to have never been born, and upon realizing that his mouth is bleeding again (like it was before we was whisked to an alternate dimension), he starts shouting, “My mouth’s bleedin’ Bert! My mouth’s bleedin’!” His unbridled excitement about it is contagious, and it gets me every time.
I was thinking about gratefulness as I watched that goofy Rudolph movie with my kids…thinking about how grateful I am to be alive…to have a good job…to have a roof over my head, food to eat, cars that work…and the fact that I have use of my legs and arms and brain and all. So many people have none of that.
I’ll tell you truthfully, my four faithful readers, I don’t feel whole these days. I feel like something broke in me, and I’m not sure what it is or what will repair it. But I’m grateful for another day, another year.
I’m grateful for another opportunity to figure it out and learn how to move on.
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