Ah, we are approaching the year 2009!

I hope all of you had a deLIGHTful Christmas and that all your secret wishes were fulfilled with the enchantment of Christmas which was all yours to treasure. For some of us, it was a painful Christmas and just waited for the day to come and go quickly.

Next week, we will begin to start writing 2009 on all of our correspondence and writing 2009 on our checks. I recall as a child, it seemed to frighten me every year when the digits changed on the calendar. Strange for a young girl to be frightened of that. As an adult, it frightens me even more but I know why now at an older age.

I read somewhere that many people call New Years Day...."Good Riddance Day"....in which they celebrate in mashing a year’s worth of bad hairstyles, loathed music, fashion disasters and regretted romances into an unrecognizable pulp of bad karma and negative vibes. Well, I guess that is when people decided to make their New Year's resolutions and to start off the new year with a positive attitude to get rid of all the negative vibes from the year just past.

Every year, millions and millions of eyes from all over the world are focused on the sparkling Waterford Crystal Times Square New Year's Eve Ball. Is it really made of Waterford Crystal???? Don't you think that in today's devastating economy.....we should not use Waterford Crystal for the New Year's Ball this year?

We all anxiously wait for the clock to start at 11:59 p.m. when the Ball begins its descent, as millions of voices start to count down the final seconds of the year, and celebrate the beginning of a new year full of hopes, challenges, changes and dreams........mostly dreams!

I prefer to be at home watching the ball come down. I recall when I was young, I used to love to find that perfect cocktail dress and attend the best parties celebrating the New Year. As I got older, I realized that I would rather be home then be on the roads with the amateur drunks that abuse the beautiful celebrations of welcoming in a New Year.

I don't believe in New Year's resolutions. I believe that you should be ridding yourself of bad habits and you shouldn't have to wait for New Years to start doing it. New Year's Eve has always been a time for looking back to the past, and more importantly, forward to the coming year. It's a time to reflect on the changes we want and/or more importantly need to make and resolve to follow through on those changes.

The resolutions for many are usually the same every year, diet, stop smoking, exercising, etc. All of which do not require a New Year to begin to start living a healthy lifestyle.

So, do you make New Year's Resolutions? Are they usually the same ones year after year? I know Jimmy Sullivan will be out in Area 51 celebrating....so how are the rest of you celebrating in the new year?