It's beginning to look a lot like the end

When the stress of December grabbed me with a vengeance, I took a step back and decided to enjoy the holiday in pieces, take it as it came, not put too much significance on one party or event. Not obsess about the perfect gifts. Be flexible and spontaneous. Adjust, enjoy.

The entire holiday was great -- from the ugly Christmas sweater Young Life party to the Chilean dinner Christmas day night. Along the way, some great friends showed up at my house and some unexpected treasures arrived.

As much as we want to be in charge, the best things flit in -- unorchestrated -- and dance around your living room for a short while, then venture off.

So it was with my good friend Rhonda, who arrived unexpectedly from Phoenix and brought a Rhonda party every night. Three days later she was gone, flying off to Mexico in her U.S. Airways uniform for a beachy Christmas layover.

There were bittersweet moments, rich with emotion, as I shared in the death of my good friend's daddy and agonized over the sicknesses of a teen-ager, a baby, a friend's husband.

Some of the best gifts were spontaneous, the "here-take-it" kind: A Michael Buble Christmas C.D., a vintage white geometric pendant on a green bead chain from my daughter's jewelry chest, the stunning view of Crested Butte mountain.

So here's to learning to take things as they come and lean in.

I'm ready to do it all again. Just the same but different.