I don?t know if it is the same for you but when I watch the news on TV I have the sensation that they repeat the same kind of news every season. Apart from the breaking news, those which grab our attention and are forgotten soon after even when their consequences last for years (natural disasters are examples of this), newscasts include some information I call ?seasonal?. Regarding the Christmas period which has just ended, it was shown how relatives come back home to have dinner with their families, how clocktowers in diferent cities announce the New Year, and how children open presents left by The Three Wise Men. Sometimes, I think? that my life, like the news, has seasonal activities too.

Currently, I am doing my annual ritual of reminiscing and putting all the postcards into boxes. Receiving postcards is something that I enjoy so much that my Friends willingly look for stamps and post offices although sometimes I know it is difficult for them. The first postcards I received this year came from South America from my nephew who, despite not being fond of writing, gave me this beautiful present. My friends that travel the most sent me postcards from all the places they visited, making my collection larger. Among the most curious postcards in the batch I have received there is one with sand from Lanzarote and another very big one with a beautiful image of the Norwerian Fjords on it. Curiously, a postcard from Cuba took five months to arrive and others were sent as Christmas cards. We are still waiting for the postcard sent fron Jordania last summer.

Now the strings on my wall are ready for new postcards to be hung, those which will reveal images of faraway places in addition to loving words; those that will make me feel happy when I find them in my mailbox. This is one of my seasonal activities, but I have more; for instance, every year I start writing about my feelings and thoughts in a new notebook and ?I also give away all the things that I haven?t used during the year. And you, dear readers, do you have any ritual that you repeat every year? Rituals to start the new year?

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