Illustration by J. C. Leyendecker

The Walker Christmas was celebrated this past Saturday, at my palatial home of Blithering Heights. This was timely in meteorological terms, since the earth, though appropriately hard as iron (or at least hard as lead), was bare on Christmas day, but plentiful snow fell on Saturday morning, auguring well for our celebration. Even more than the fortune cookies at the Chinese restaurant where we adjourned for lunch, in traditional Norwegian fashion.

And now the New Year approaches, like the Avenger of Blood in the Pentateuch. I feel more at home with the New Year as I grow older, probably because I come more and more to resemble the New Year’s baby. My festivities are taking the form of a few days off from work, working instead on a translation project while I have a little time off from grad school. My new year’s resolution is to spend less time relaxing. Prospects appear good.

Ah, 2015. God willing, it will be the year I’ll complete all my course credits, leaving only the Comprehensive Tests to be gotten through — some time in early 2016, I suppose. But just finishing class work is enough to give me a future and a hope. All my friends are retiring, it’s true, but everyone knows you retire and you drop dead the next day. At this rate I’ll live forever.

Have a blessed calendar change.