I am struck by the fact that Christmas has come and gone – again. Time has this way of just tenderly ticking away. You may not notice it in a day or even in a month. But, the years – oh the years – they are the markers of the march of time.

When I got out the lights for our little Norfolk pine tree this year and the angel that always tops it, I was almost bowled over by this feeling of just having done this very task. Not in a deja-vu fashion, but in an almost-impossible-to-grasp-that-it-had-been-a-year way.

And the cards that come with the simply stunning photos of loved ones and their little ones. Little ones that have grown and changed so much. And little ones I don’t even know and who have a piece of my heart all the same. A year for them is such a huge part of their lives and just a mere shadow of mine.

Oh, and the poinsettias! The perky playful poinsettias. They are planted all over the farm and, without a smidgeon of care, they bloom again around the holidays each and every year. And, didn’t they just finish their showy bloom?! Really. Has it been a year?!

Someone once said “The days are long and the years are short.” True that. And as the sun sets on the day after Christmas here on my farm, I am reminded of the magic march of time. And how I must cherish the richness that every day brings me. The love and abundance that are woven into the fiber of my fortunate life.

Perhaps that is a pertinent promise we all should make this New Year. Drop into the moment. Delve deep into each day. Christmas 2012 will be here in a fantastic flash!