It's Time To Plan My New Year's Eve Party . . .

. . . because I can't wait for this year to end. As if the economic news isn't bad enough...

My mother-in-law took her dog, Molly, a beautiful 8 year old Akita, to the vet on Thursday because she was coughing a bit and hadn't been eating well for several days. She has lost 8 pounds since the last vet visit this past spring. She was refusing her favorite treats, and would eat only canned cat food and only half a can at a time, which is not a lot a lot of food for an 80 pound dog.

After an exam and chest x-ray, it turns out that Molly has lung cancer that is so bad, the huge tumors are literally pressing against her esophagus, making it hard for her to swallow and breathe. It is not curable. So my mother-in-law is spending this one last weekend with her beloved friend, and will take her on Monday to be euthanized so she won't suffer and go hungry any longer.

It makes me want to say, "Thankgiving. Bah, humbug!" But I think that sentiment is supposed to wait until Christmas.

Yes, yes, of course we'll be very thankful this coming Thursday that the deaths were not more numerous, that all of *us* are still here to celebrate. Of course we'll be grateful for the many wonderful years that my grandpa was with us before he died earlier this year. Most certainly we'll be grateful for the many good times we shared with aunts and uncles before they passed. And yes, without a doubt we'll be grateful that we enjoyed the love and companionship and sheer joy our little furry friends shared during their short, happy lives here with us.

But we'll also be sad. As if it's not enough that we've lost so many relatives, now we've got to lose our little furry friends, too? One after another, pop, pop, pop... gone. What kind of cosmic justice is *that*?!?

If you ask me for "thankful," you're likely to get something like this out of me: "I have had just about enough sadness for one year, thank you very much!"

So I'm mentally skipping Thanksgiving and Christmas and jumping right to a holiday that just might bring some relief from this misery we call 2009. That's right, folks, I'm pinning all my hopes on New Year's Eve!

Maybe 2010 will bring us a new beginning with no more dying relatives and some new, youthful, playful furry friends, so that by next Thanksgiving this past year of a crappy economy, rampant deaths, and other assorted miseries will be a distant memory. At least, that's what I'm hoping for...

... so, mark your calendars. This year, I'm having a blowout celebration to ring in 2010!! I just can't wait!