Could we just eliminate January from our yearly calendar? It is cold, dismal, gloomy, dreary and depressing and it just puts me into a general funk.
We spend so much happy times getting ready for the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas, expending so much energy and with so much enthusiasm. We are just on a binge of expressed adrenalin so high that we are just ecstatically happy from November all the way through Christmas.
I don’t even mind all the shoppers that we have to deal with in all the stores. Everyone is saying “Merry Christmas,” even people you don’t know, and all kinds of acts of kindness are being expressed to one another.
Then comes the days after Christmas – all the decorations have to be taken down and put away, the left-over food is grinding down the garbage compactor, the garbage cans are full of boxes and wrapping papers, and I am sitting in front of our warm fire in a mood and an attitude of “I just want to go to bed and you clean all this up and wake me in February.”
For some reason my life has always been at its lowest during the month of January and I have no hint as to why this is. I have had three surgeries during the month January.
I broke my leg in the month of January. My dad passed away during the month of January. I broke my shoulder and had a replacement during the month of January. Now you see why I just need to stay in bed the entire month to escape any impairment to myself.
What exactly exciting goes on in the first month of our year anyway?
February is the month of lovers. March is the beginning of spring. April is our Easter celebration. May is my birthday. June school is out for the summer. July we celebrate the fourth. August school begins. September there’s football games. October is the spooky month and then we begin with the holidays once again. But what about January and its “do nothing” month. Of course there is end of the year taxes in January and believe me this is surely a reason for celebration.
Oh well, January 2018, I am planning to live in my pajamas, cook lots of soup, sit by the fire with a latte’, and complain for the entire month.
This is my recipe for my Tomato Basil Soup – Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet and add 1 medium chopped onion, 3 large cloves of garlic chopped and cook until soft. Add three quarts of canned tomatoes, (I use the ones I can) and one handful of fresh basil leaves (about 1 cup chopped or use 2 tablespoons if dried basil), salt and pepper.
Cook until the tomatoes are broken down some and remove from heat. Pour into a food processor and process until smooth.
We eat this with grilled cheese sandwiches. Yummy!
