Predictions 2008

On the first new year's eve after Moppet's Papa and I got together, he told me we should spend the first day of the year doing what we liked best so that the rest of the year would follow the same pattern. Now, this is the sort of sentimental twaddle that both of us would ordinarily have scoffed at, but we had just started dating, and this was as good a reason as any to spend the whole day doing what young couples in love do.

That was 8 years ago; the flush of young love has long since faded, and the brain is back to being (mostly) rational again. Yet there is still something appealing about the thought of making the first day of the year a model day for the rest of it.

Every new year's day since that first one has been different. Some were spent with friends, some with family, some just the two of us. Some were begun at snazzy countdown parties, others cosily at home. They have all been fun, memorable days, and strangely enough, it felt like the day did indeed set the tone for the year that followed.

This new year's day got off to a rough start. Moppet (and as a consequence, both Moppet's Papa and I) slept fitfully and woke up in a foul mood at an unneccessarily early hour. She then spent most of the morning throwing tantrums at the slightest excuse and lying face down on the floor, whining about something incomprehensible.

On the plus side, while Nanny took the whiny little creature down to the park for half an hour, I managed to produce some fairly edible, if inelegant dosas. Moppet's Papa and I had the kind of breakfast we haven't had in a long while, standing and chatting cozily by the stove, sharing the dosas as they came hot off the tava.

Lunch and a good long nap helped with Moppet's mood a little, and it gave Moppet's Papa and me the chance to get away for a while, have a nice lunch, and indulge in some retail therapy. Sick to the gills of hearing me complain about not getting a gift for my birthday or our anniversary this year, Moppet's Papa decided to silence me once and for all with a gorgeous designer watch. His I'm-such-a-good-husband halo is so bright right now I can barely look at him without blinding myself. (Maybe we should get me those designer gogs too, sweets? :-)

We came back home and woke up a still cranky but overall better-behaved Moppet. Another stint in the park for her and a brisk evening walk for her parents worked well and everyone came home tired but happy. Post-dinner family time was pleasant and tantrum free, with Moppet plying us with chai from her plastic tea set, giving out unsolicited hugs and kisses, and spending some rare quiet time 'wocking' in the recliner next to her Papa.

And now, since Moppet's Papa is on bedtime duty tonight, I can put my feet up and blog about my predictions (hopes?) for 2008, based on the first day of this new year:

1. We will eat a lot more idlis and dosas.

2. I will be the happy recipient of lots of great gifts, some of them even 'just because'
(Too much? Yeah, I know, but a girl can dream, right?)

3. I will get a lot more exercise this year, and hopefully end the year in better shape than I started it.

4. Moppet will continue to plague me and will come within an inch of being put up for adoption, saved only by her ability to look me in the eye with a wicked smile and say 'Moppet nice? Yes?' in a tone that brooks no argument.

I hope you all had a perfect new year's day and that 2008 will be full of the things you like best.