Fast away the old year passes

(Fa la la la la, la la la la)

Hail the new, ye lads and lasses

(Fa la la la la, la la la la)

but before you do, before 2024 recedes into history and disappears forever, before some people bid it a fond farewell and others bid good riddance to bad rubbish, before 2025 arrives in all its bright (though probably false) prospects of better things ahead, a very important event remains on our family's social calendar.

I'm not referring to our after-Christmas Christmas get-together. That event will take place tomorrow, Sunday, December 29th. The event I'm talking about will occur on Tuesday, December 31st. It is the wedding of our last unmarried grandson and his fiancée. They chose that date for their wedding because it was on New Year's Eve four years ago that they met.

It was actually their second choice. They originally planned to be married in October in Pinellas County, Florida, but hurricanes Helene and Milton ruined their plans.

It just occurred to me that by marrying on the last day of the year, they will receive the tax advantages of being a married couple for the entire year if they file a joint income tax return for 2024.

I wonder whether it has occurred to them.

I'll end this post with a poem I wrote more than 40 years ago:

On Viewing a Medieval Bridal Chamber

Half a morning’s measure,
.....Stripped of veil and train,
Here, in languid leisure,
.....Maids with men have lain,
Off’ring up their treasure,
.....Off’ring sweat and stain,
Little gasps of pleasure,
.....Little cries of pain.

In their sweet uncladness,
.....Still all lovers cling,
Thinking, in their madness,
.....Lusty flesh is king;
What now gives them gladness
.....All too soon shall bring
Little sighs of sadness,
.....Little tears that sting.

(end of poem)

Life, being unpredictable, has many twists and turns, and no one knows what the future mat bring. I wish the new couple every happiness and only the very best life has to offer as they walk together into the future.