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Thank heavens, it's finally over.

I'm not talking about the holiday season. That's all just fine and dandy.

I'm talking something far more all-consuming, far more gluttonous.

The Food Season.

You know, the FOOD Season.

Think back to November when more than the turkey was feeling stuffed. Remember?

Or let's be brave and go back to Halloween, when you ordered the kids to hide their treats and they knew it was not because you felt like playing Scavenger Hunt.

Remember also pledging to any family member or friend within earshot, "Not this year! THIS year I will MAINTAIN!"

How'd that work out for you?

My friends, come now as we enter into the post-holiday season: 'Tis now The Season of Damage Control, with a side of the Season of Resolution...

We all know there are countless articles on losing weight this time of year. I see them every time I'm on line in the supermarket. It's the magazine aisle of good intentions. These are also the same checkout aisles lined with every variety of Hershey bar known to man. With any luck, you make your way out the door with only your groceries and a pack of Certs.

Victory.

Come, gather around the George Foreman Grill while I share with you some stories. Let's dig into this old flower-patterened child's-sized suitcase and pull out any random number of journals I kept from years past.

I was 16 when I wrote on Jan. 1, 1983:

Dear Diary

New Year's Resolutions:

1. Help out more around the house

2. Eat less! No sweets!

3. No fried foods or bread or junk food

4. Exercise daily (such as jogging or jumping rope)

5. Don't say things that are not nice

6. No cursing

7. Take better care of my contacts

8. Mind my own business

9. Keep my room neat

10. Write letters more often

11. Stop complaining

12. Always try to be cheerful

13. Think more of others

Not only did I write this list in my journal, but also on a small white slip of paper to carry around in my purse. If I was ever in an accident and a police officer found it, at least it would be obvious I aspired to break up with bread.

And from yet another,

Jan, 1, 1982

New Year's Resolutions

No junk food!

Improve myself!

Talk to Mark more! (in honor of one of my umpteen crushes on my brothers' friends)

Ahh, another journal, another turn of the page

Jan. 1, 1984:

New Year's Resolutions

Exercise daily

Practice violin daily

Become a better person

Anyone else sensing a theme here?

Even on a spring day in 1978 my love-hate relationship with exercise was already apparent.

"Today my family went bike riding at Rockland Lake. My legs are KILLING ME!"

I was 11.

As editor of the View newspapapers, I have a new resolution. Anyone who calls me to ask about having a story covered, or a photo submitted, must come to Columbia to give me the information in person -- while we are taking a brisk stroll around the block.

With any luck we will arrive at The Season of Acceptance.

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