Sunday to Monday seems like a huge step this upcoming week. It's just a date on the calendar, yet we take the turning of the year so seriously. It's a chance to reboot. It's a chance to start over so to speak. To change something. When I was little, I used to write out the same poem every year on December 31st and slip it into an envelope. I liked to watch my handwriting change. I would make envelopes for myself to open in the future with far-off dates like 1996 listing everything I hoped to have accomplished by that year. By 1996 I wanted to have a harem of boyfriends. I coveted wall-to-wall carpeting. I believed my life would only be complete if I had a white bunny rabbit named Snowball. I wanted to be a mommy. A mommy at 22 somehow sounded right to an eight-year-old.

I have one husband. I prefer hardwood floors. If I ever had a rabbit, I doubt I would name it Snowball. The desire to be a mommy is the only thing that hasn't changed (though it certainly didn't happen in my twenties...).

I hope everyone closes out this year with peace. I hope that 2007 turns out to be the best year yet. I wish everyone ease in keeping resolutions who makes them.

And now the blogs.

My prize for best Christmas post goes to DrSpouse at What am I? She talks about viewing the service as a woman experiencing infertility and the thoughts flitting through her mind. She discusses the connection between birth and Christmas and ends with this thought: "But Christmas is also so much about birth - and I have to remind myself to skip ahead to other parts of the story, where we are adopted as children of God, who are equal with birth children. And also that Joseph, crucial in Christ's lineage, was his adoptive father. Somewhere, tonight, a child is born. Maybe to us." It was just a gorgeous post.

Nica at Life as a Sandwich has a very funny post lamenting all the baby showers she has attended and calls for someone to throw her an infertility shower. Why do we only shower people with love and attention for celebratory life events such as weddings or impending motherhood? Where are the infertility showers where friends provide the couple in need with money for fertility drugs or adoption? Where are the friends giving the couple a day of relaxation to escape all the stress of infertility? Nica may be on to something... Why are we only gathering to celebrate or mourn? There are too many in-between times, the stressful times where we could benefit from people gathering around and comforting the couple. It's food for thought.

Shlomit at You're Still Young! had a funny thought that she passed along to her husband, Sariel, during their last insemination. It was a question that we probably all have asked at some point in our life. We're going on a date tonight and returning to the restaurant of our first date in honour of Shlomit's question... (hint: you need to click on over to see the question and laugh).

Lastly, Stacie at the Twinkies cleared up a lot of confusion this week and put my idea of natural is nice to shame. In case you were vying for the title, Stacie has revealed that she is the most natural mother. Ever. I am fairly certain that she also hums as she cleans the house (both babies in tow) and deers and rabbits smile at her kitchen window a la Snow White. It's a very funny post reminding us of the crappiness of the Mommy Wars.

Happy New Year!