I must be getting old because the first thing I thought of when I heard that it was going to snow the day of the wedding that I was helping to photograph, was not, “Wow, those are going to be awesome pictures!” It was more like, “Aghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!” my standard-issue groan of despair, that I make at the TV every morning when I see the forecast.

Sometimes the best motivator is shame. I know, because I ate my weight in Christmas cookies this year. God– peanut butter blossoms, pumpkin-oatmeal, peppermint-spice, iced Italian short-bread cookies, and baklava– which I know is not technically speaking a cookie, but, hey, I ate that too.