Less really is more.

We’ve been reading all of the usual and expected end-of-year, begining of the new year articles that are published annually and there’s one thing that strikes us as quite sad.

Maybe it’s because we haven’t lost a job this year, or still have our homes to go to each night when we leave work,or can afford food to take with us but we seem to be the only ones who aren’t glad to bid farewell to 2009.

Not to say we are not enthused by the possibilities that come with any new year and 2010 (heck, just being able to say “twenty-ten” is cool to us) is no different. But we’ve never seen or heard so many pundits, bloggers, newscasters not to mention our friends’ holiday card letters extolling the idea that this is the year we prefer to observe in a rearview mirror.

No question, the year had it’s challenges for more folks than probably have ever been affected in a single year by the economy since the great depression that began in 1929.

But is that a good enough reason to wish away time? Of any kind? Isn’t it true that these tend to be the sort of years we remember most? Or recall as the time that we got stonger, closer, better, richer, smarter, when we found time, God, friends, family and reality.

Discovering friends, family and boardgames!

It is years like 2009 that have made us more aware of what we need and what we can do without. We learned that staying home and cooking is not only more affordable but fun, relaxing, brings us closer to our families and we re-discovered board games!

We realized we DON”T have to keep up with the Joneses anymore because it’s the Joneses who just sold their house for less than half of what they paid for it–and that was BEFORE they took out two home equity lines of credit on the mortgage.

We finally got through to the credit card companies who we learned prefer to take lower interest payments in trade for getting paid at ALL. Of course the additional price we pay is no credit card. But how bad is that?

And the government PAID us to buy a new car through the CARS program, of which I shamelessly took total advantage trading in my 13 year old, 139,000 mile Chevy Blazer.

Thank goodness the internet is holding our hand through all of this, coupons for restaurants, hair salons, spas, entertainment venues, and who knows what else, reminding us that prices were grossly inflated, we were willing to overpay and everyone but us was laughing all the way to the bank.

Then there’s the weekly grocery shopping…we will never have to pay $5.00 for a box of LIFE cereal, $12/lb for radicchio lettuce or save our pennies for a gallon of milk again– I don’t care how much the truckers are charging the manufacturers to get that gallon from Wisconcin to my Chicago zip code.

Suddenly it’s cool to find clothes at second hand shops and Salvation Army stores. How little we paid for that cute skirt, darling braclet or chic trenchcoat is a badge of honor that measures not only our fashion sense but our dective prowess as well.

We could go on and on with all sorts of examples. Let us go on record as being grateful for 2009 and leave it at this:  2009 will become the new 1929, we will tell our kids what we “did without”  that year and we will be grateful that we raised them to do the same– for a lifetime.