To mark the passing of the year I thought would emulate the wonderful Mayfy Project and try to sum up the past twelve months in just 24 words. Mayfly creator Meg Pickard believes that embracing the constraint of summing up the last year in a handful of words helps to focus on what has really mattered. Here are mine:

Weslyn. Hard work. Stress. Baltic cruise. True Colors. iPhone. 21st anniversary. Missed Rhonda. Missed Al. Happiness and tears. Jake. Philip. Hope. Love. No regrets.

• Exclamations of "awesome!"
• Crocs
• Spears, Lohan and Hilton
• "Lost," Heroes," and other shows that fail to live up to their initial premise
• Subprime mortgages
• Harry Potter "naked" stories
• Surges of all kinds
• Donald Trump vs. anybody
• TB-carrying lawyers
• Feigned outrage over steroid use
• Plastic yellow wristbands informing me to "LiveStrong!"
• Flip-flops in airports and onboard airplanes (Really, people...)
• Spam e-mail labeled "Burger Bucks" (Who is enticed by this?!?)

We've been going to the same local deli for sandwiches on Saturday afternoons for at least five years. Like any good sandwich company, the turkey is freshly-roasted and the portions are huge. In fact, Philip and I are such regular customers that we have a close relationship with one of the waitresses, telling her stories about our travels and hobbies while she shares juicy details of her life, like the birth of her new baby and the affair that she has been having on her husband (allegedly in retaliation for his recent cheating on her).

So last Saturday, we stopped in during some last-minute holiday shopping and prepared to have our usual for lunch. The waitress, who is in her late 20s, paused before taking our order and said, "Can I be honest with you? I'm Armenian and we are blunt, so I am just going to say something to you. I have been thinking about you all week. You know, in Armenian culture, being gay is forbidden. If an Armenian male is gay, he does not act on it. I don't know what I would do if my new son turns out to be gay. I couldn't accept it." I was honestly taken aback...this was a person I have been speaking to for years without any hint of homophobia on her part. I said, "Well, I would hope that you would be more tolerant than that - he is your son and you should love him no matter what path his life takes." She shook her head and reiterated that no, she could not accept such a disgusting "lifestyle choice." I countered that if it was such a "choice," a) why I have I felt attracted to males since I was about four years old, and b) why would I "choose" to be gay in a world that ridicules and persecutes me, especially when I grew up seeing nothing but hetero love stories as the acceptable norm?

"Well, I'm just being honest," she said.

I dunno, I could barely swallow my turkey knowing it was handed to me by someone who loathed my very being. I guess I will have to find a place that lets me eat a damn sandwich without a serving of judgement on the side.

Christmas Morning, 2007. Opening gifts in front of the tree on a glorious sunny Southern California day. Jake sits amongst his gifts - a chew-toy snowman, a green and white knotted rope and an edible rawhide greeting card. Meanwhile, Philip gets busy opening his gifts.

Christmas Eve, 1969. Before going to bed I pose with our cardboard "fireplace" - it WAS South Florida, after all - fireplaces were unheard of! It had a rotating light bulb and foil contraption to simulate flames. Note the fabulous mid-century wall clock, festooned for the season with paper candy canes. Next morning, one of my favorite toys from Santa was the "JFK International Airport" playset, where you could listen in on the control tower and put planeloads of imaginary people in peril. Two other things to note in this picture: The bright orange Hot Wheels racing track on the carpet, and my first pet - a very protective bulldog named Butch.

One of my favorite Christmas TV specials in the whole wide world. Supremely underrated and loads of fun beamin' at ya from 1989.

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Next summer's "Hairspray?" After seeing the original stage version in London I was leery about this until now...dare you to watch this trailer for the upcoming film and NOT break into a smile!

From the Yale Book Of Quotations comes the top ten quotes from 2007: 10. "I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history." - Jimmy Carter. 9. "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man." - Sen. Joe Biden, speaking about Barack Obama. 8. "(I have) a wide stance when going to the bathroom." - Sen. Larry Craig. 7. "I'm not going to get into a name-calling match with somebody who has a 9 percent approval rating." Sen. Harry Reid, speaking about Dick Cheney. 6. "There's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun and a verb and 9/11." - Sen. Joe Biden, speaking about Rudy Giuliani. 5. "I don't recall." - Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. 4. "That's some nappy-headed hos there." Don Imus. 3. "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country." - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. 2. "I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have maps and I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and the Iraq and everywhere like such as and I believe that they should our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. or should help South Africa and should help Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for us." - Miss South Carolina. 1. "Don't tase me, bro!" - UF student Andrew Meyer, arrested at a forum with John Kerry.

A pic from the kitchen this evening: cooking crab cakes that my brother Wayne and his family sent us. From Dean & Deluca in NYC, they were fab with a little homemade tartar sauce and some red beans & rice!

A snap of our Christmas Tree this year. Not nearly as many lights as usual (!), since I was able to convince Philip that spending 8+ hours just putting the lights on each individual branch was not in the cards for me this time around. So, rather than supernova, we only have a mini-nova. And we only blew out three extension cords before balancing the load!