There is still snow on the ground from the “Blizzard of 2010” and another six to eight inches were added this week.  The snow in our yard is still beautiful, but the plowed snow piles along the streets and in the parking lots have become gray and depressing.   More snow is predicted for this week.  And it is not even midwinter; winter has not even been here a month.

The newness of the year is wearing off  and the resolutions are beginning to wane.   Spring seems so far away, and the activities that usually energize me, such as taking long walks, are not as energizing on icy sidewalks.

So it is time to plan some winter activities, instead of just counting the days until Spring (65).   It’s time to dust off the novel I wrote during National Novel Writing month in November and start revising it.  It’s time to tackle the backlog of scrapbooking projects and to finish the Lego Carousel that has taken over the kitchen counter.   It’s time to look forward to a new season of American Idol starting this week, the return of network TV after the “winter hiatus” and to snuggle up under a throw blanket with a cup of tea and a good book to read.

And to think about how much I will have accomplished when in 65 days I send out my First Day of Spring cards, greet the first crocuses, and welcome Wally, Clarence and Eddie as they emerge from hibernation, instead of just wishing that I could hibernate as well.

I was all set to keep one of my new year’s resolutions to blog more and write a light-hearted blog about how the IRS is no longer sending out paper tax forms automatically and how the IRS is now using YouTube and Twitter and actually got 771 “Likes” on facebook.

But then I followed yesterday’s  massacre in Arizona, including the senseless death of a nine-year old girl, who was born on September 11, 2001, and wanted to meet her congresswoman because she had recently been elected to her school’s student counsel.   And there was no way I could write my light-hearted blog, but instead prayed for the victims in church this morning, and prayed for our country, and prayed for those who still believe that violence is the answer.   And I heard myself silently praying the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, where there is hatred, let me sow love.”   That seems like a much better new year’s resolution.