It’s New Years morning.

In my imagination, I’m standing on a bridge passing from 2017 to 2018. I can see both from here. It’s a time for reflecting, for planning, for living in the past but dreaming of the future. Beginning a new year, with all of its promise, is always exciting.

Yet I have a few regrets about 2017, mostly of opportunities not seized rather than those that I did. It’s too late now to go back and pursue most of them. All I can do is to keep my eyes wide open so as not to miss as many in 2018.

Once in a great while, though, we are allowed a do-over. Occasionally, an offer is extended long than you might expect.

Here is a perfect example. The Christmas season is very special in Woodstock. In particular, our town square is a place of beauty and magic after the sun sets. The lights are much, much prettier in person, but here are a few photos I took last week. You have to stand there, shivering, and take it in to get the full effect.

With the holidays officially ending today, you might think you have missed your chance to see it–or to revisit it. But you haven’t. In this case, there IS a do-over. The lights stay on until Groundhog Day. (Don’t ask why. It’s a Woodstock thing.)

The Square at night is a wondrous sight to begin a new year. Come visit us if you can.