January 2013… there are those who said the world would never make it to this date.

The Mayan calendar has ended — I don’t understand that myself. How can a calendar have an end to it? Tomorrow is always the next day… isn’t it?

Whatever, it really doesn’t matter. We aren’t the Mayans and we’re all still here. And many of us had visitors for the holidays. There were 11 bodies sleeping in my house for a couple of days.

Of course there was another visitor to my house but he didn’t stay long. Just ate the cookies, drank the milk and was gone… oh, he left quite a few gifts behind too.

I wonder if there is a way to get a message to good Saint Nick for next year? I think I’d like him to come a little later or perhaps he could sprinkle a little of that fairy dust around that keeps children’s eyes closed for just a wee bit longer?

It was not yet 6:30 on Christmas morning when I heard, “Grandma! Look, Santa came!”

Since Grandma was sleeping on the hide-a-bed in the living room, I’m really not sure how that guy was able to sneak in without me hearing him but he can obviously be a very quiet fellow when he has to be. I didn’t hear even one “Ho”, let alone a “Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!”

The joys of Christmas through a child`s eyes are incomparable and I feel so incredibly blessed to be enjoying them again.

That is my New Year’s wish for all of you — let’s all try to remember the innocence and the ability to believe in the goodness (and magic) of mankind we experienced as children.

You reap what you sow; what goes around comes around; there are many ways to express what I learned as the Golden Rule — Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

It would be lovely if we could start to see more of that in our world.

On that note, I would like to ask the person(s) who removed the metal Rotary hat from the Invermere Inn to please return it.

The money collected in it is used to pay for a child`s education in a Third World country. The hat itself was made by a former member of the Rotary Club of Invermere and has great sentimental value to the club.

Please find a way for the hat to make its way home — even if the money in it is gone… maybe drop it off at the arena.