In looking on Facebook, I’ve come to realize that the Fourth is a much bigger deal for other people than it is for me. There’s my one friend, who has had a party with her family as long as I’ve known her. Now that she has three beautiful daughters, she dresses them up gaily in red, white and blue.

It’s just another day for us, for many reasons. Growing up, my mom worked at a hospital, which meant that holidays didn’t exist; she worked them. So Thanksgiving’s the same no-big-deal day for me too.

My family never did fireworks. I didn’t light one until I was in college (so I had an unnatural fear of them, as you can imagine).

Now Max is weird about fireworks, so it’s low on the list every year. I wouldn’t dream of lighting them in front of him (though sparklers would be cool). Now we live in Southern California, fire capital of the country, so they’re banned for people to do themselves here.

He also hates fireworks shows. You should have seen him when he was 2 or 3 at Epcot. Ballistic. I haven’t tried it again. Last year we watched them from a parking lot, far from the booms that would send him into hysterics. We’ll do the same tonight. Armed with some froyo and maybe a bottle of wine, we’ll celebrate the country’s birth as we always do – low key.

Sorry I haven’t written. Mom’s here and we’ve been a whirlwind of tourism activity. We…

• Went to Julian, famous for their apple pie, and didn’t eat apple pie
• Took far too many layers to wear on our very long Harbor Tour
• Spent far too much money at Old Town
• Drank a lot of wine

Then Mom stayed with Max while hub and I had a little wine country getaway in Temecula. Check out our photo tour.

I’ve got a business trip the rest of the week, and I hope to catch up on all my blogs.

I have a fun tradition. Every year, I write a letter to myself, reviewing the previous year. I write it as if I hadn’t lived the year, and describe everything that happened. This year, it was painful to write, since this year has been arguably one of the worst of my life. Still, I have high hopes for 2010.

I also write resolutions. There’s a lot of argument about whether having resolutions actually works, but for me, they do. I keep them on my wall where I can see them and read them throughout the year.

I’d like to share mine with you.

1. Get my family back together.

2. Lose another 10 pounds.

3. Learn to snowboard and ski.

4. Have more than enough money.

5. Move to a city we all love.

6. Be more thoughtful toward husband.

7. Love son hard.

8. Change someone’s life for the better.

9. Get a camera.

10. Be happy.

You can see, they’re simple and attainable. I plan at the end of the year to be able to say, “Yep, did that one,” for each of these.

What about you? Do you make resolutions or goals at the start of the year? Why don’t you share them with us so we can help keep you accountable to your own success?