See the Notes for an important piece of advice related to this picture.

(Sunday Paper, Year VI, Issue 3)

This time of year is always familiar to me.

And this year is no exception.

Which is actually a really great feeling - because in this past year where everything has been so uncertain and weird and disruptive, a little bit of familiarity is appreciated.

So even though this is a pretty doldrum-y time of the year…

The feelings that come with January - at least for me - are more than welcome.

Truth be told, these feelings mostly accompany the second weekend in January, but last week there were other topics on my mind and I disrupted the Sunday Paper schedule a little bit and figured I might as well write about this on the third weekend in January.

Which isn’t too far off - because a lot of these feelings still linger.

The Christmas tree, though?

That’s long gone - Framingham DPW picked it up this past week, so that’s one mile marker as we slog through the winter that’s in the past.

That’s kind of what January is to me - a series of markers that indicate we’re on our way towards spring.

It’s a hard month for me (and probably many others). It follows up the holidays - and usually some time off - and the weather is dark and cold. (Can weather be dark? I guess not. But it is dark and the weather is cold.)

The Christmas decorations come down…and in my teaching life there were always report cards to be written. I still get that feeling in the back of my brain that I need to get some reports written as I watch the NFL Playoffs over the weekend and get the tree out to the curb…and I get a hankering to go sit in the library as I did for so many years on the second weekend in January to write those reports and try to get them done before kickoff of the late afternoon playoff games. (Some years those playoff games even included the Jets! What a time.)

Last week, you may or may not know, there were three playoff games each on Saturday and Sunday, which I didn’t care about at all in terms of outcomes but it was nice to have on throughout the weekend…without having reports to write.

That football change was pandemic-induced…but it was one that actually worked in my favor.

It feels to me like January has been going on forever…but we’re only about halfway through. That’s kind of the way I feel about January, February, and March..then baseball comes back and I feel like I have something else to occupy my brain.

I feel like maybe I write about this January feeling - or something similar - every year at this time.

And that, in its own way, is another way this time of year feels familiar, I suppose.

Notes

*I’m going to beat the composting drum again this week. I can’t recommend the composting process to you enough. If you’re local you 100% should get on board with the company Framingham uses - let me know if you need the info. (While they will lower the price if enough people sign up, I promise you that’s not my motivation here - they’re not really close to that threshold, I don’t think.) I just notice such a difference in our waste and how much we’re throwing away week to week in the actual garbage…and it’s such an easy switch. Food waste in the compost, non-compostable garbage in the regular garbage. I feel like we’re really doing something good for the environment…and you can do it too.

*If you’re not local, by the way, I still endorse a composting program. I just know of what I speak here. Unfortunately, I don’t think the option exists everywhere…and it’s not easy to do on your own.

*You can follow me on Twitter here, Like the Facebook page here…we’re keeping #EveryWeekOnWednesday going over there. It may look different every so often, but I’m committed to it.

*A word on the Christmas tree disposal: It took me way too long to realize that it’s much less messy when I wrap the tree in a tarp before bringing it outside. This year’s was the smoothest yet - although the tree was shedding needles like crazy, it was a relatively clean clean-up. I think this was the third year I did this? In the past I used to just try to rush it out and then curse the whole way the trail of needles I would need to clean up afterwards. I can’t believe it took me so long to work smarter, not harder. If you’re not wrapping it in a tarp yet, do yourself a favor and wrap it in a tarp. And - bonus! - the remaining swept up pine needles? Right in the compost.

*Last year I think I tipped the tarp too far and, while it was better than most years, it still wasn’t as good as this year. This year was amazing. It’ll keep me going for weeks, how clean the tree clean-up was this year.