Take my shoes off and throw them in the lake

My poem "Godfather Drosselmeyer" has been accepted by Goblin Fruit. It was written in memory of Shaun O'Brien of the New York City Ballet and orphaned by the demise of Fantastique Unfettered. I consider this a very nice going-out gift from the year.

There is good strong sunlight for the last afternoon of the year. My husband and I will be joining my family for the traditional New Year's Eve fondue and at least one movie we didn't watch for Christmas.

I wrote at the beginning of this year:

2012 was a good year. I didn't expect it to be. I thought it wouldn't be. So many of these last few years I've ended wishing myself and others a better year because the best we could say of the one on its way out was that we'd survived it: and so many years, I don't think it worked. The end of 2011, the beginning of 2012 was especially bad. Right now, though, I'm thinking I would like a better 2013 because I want to see what follows a year in which I was often, unexpectedly, happy. I don't expect not to have to work for it. There are still things I need to fix. But I like this curiosity a hell of a lot better than I did the hope that this next year just shouldn't be worse.

What the hell, it actually worked.