Years that come in with “firsts” are always worth remembering.

We welcomed 2014 in fine fashion. It was so fine that I want to share just a bit of it here.

The end of the year just past saw us drive to Allen to spend some time with our sons and with one of the boys’ family, our daughter-in-law, our grandson and our brand new granddaughter.

It was a glorious couple of days to be sure. I’ll stipulate right up front that it was our first new year with our little one, our granddaughter Emma Nicole, who’s about to turn 10 months in just a few days.

Why is that so special? It’s hard to define. It falls into that category of life’s mysteries that you have to experience to understand completely.

Grandparents know what I’m saying.

Our older son spent a day with us before he returned home the next day. We spent the next two days and nights with our younger son and his family.

Ah, but Emma stole the show. Make no mistake about that.

Our grandson left to spend time with his father. We said so long to him as he departed New Year’s Eve. Our son and daughter-in-law planned an evening out with friends to ring in the new year.

Would we mind staying home with Emma? Uhhh, no. We not only didn’t mind, we welcomed the idea of playing with her until she — or we — crashed for the night. We laughed the evening away with our little pumpkin. She turned in for the night, but only after filling us with this unique joy that remains beyond my ability to describe it.

Did we stay up until midnight? Nope. We turned in right after Emma.

We awoke the next morning and were greeted with her cheerful little smile.

OK, so maybe our new year wasn’t all that special.

But it was to us. This will be a good year, indeed.