For auld lang syne

A new year can mean a fresh start for many, but for others it can be hard to let go of the past, especially when it comes to affairs of the heart.

I'm a lover of all things Christmas, so after Black Friday shopping, we put up the Christmas tree and transform our home -- inside and out -- into a Christmas wonderland. I spend the precious last weeks of the year basking in the smells, sounds, and the joy of the season. This year was especially magical because we had our first white Christmas in eons.

On New Year's Eve, we crack open the Champagne, reflect on the year that was, make our resolutions, then ring in the new year. All the Christmas stuff is packed up and put away, and a new calendar is tacked to the kitchen wall.

It's a fresh start to a new year, and a symbolic clean slate of sorts.

For my family and me, it's easy to do because our shenanigans are mild compared to those of the good people of Port Charles, and we don't carry around the kind of baggage that they do. Thank heavens.

There are a few people in town who are shaking things up and letting go of the past, starting with Ned, who decided to quit his job at ELQ because he and Michael had had a difference of opinion about the fate of the Charles Street district. Olivia suggested that Ned consider running for mayor in the special election, which appeared to appeal to Ned. Honestly, I think it was a brilliant idea because Ned would make a wonderful mayor.

But so would Laura, and she is currently on her honeymoon and mulling over Kevin's suggestion that she run for mayor because he thinks that she's ideal for the job.

I realized that this mayoral race is a win for everyone -- the people of Port Chuck and the viewing audience -- because both Ned and Laura are genuinely good people who both like and respect each other, and more importantly, they would run a clean election. I'm tired of dirty politics and would love to see two people with different ideas about the direction of the town fight for a job that they are both well-suited for.

That said, I'm team Laura because her vision to improve the neighborhood puts the focus on the residents who live there, while Ned has his eye on transforming everything and attracting new residents with deeper pockets.

Alexis is also kicking off the new year with a new beginning. She has a firm grip on her sobriety, her career is back on track, and she's even dipped her toe in the dating pool and hooked herself a doctor. Sadly, while David might check all the right boxes for Alexis, he doesn't make her feel the way that Julian does.

Things are looking up for Julian, too, because his legal troubles are behind him, he's out of the mob, and he just purchased a popular little pub in the Charles Street district, where all the action will soon be taking place. He also just scored major points with Alexis by promising to keep an eye on her prickly daughter.

I know there are those who think that Alexis would be a fool to take Julian back, and they're right, but love isn't always logical, and sometimes it takes a leap of faith. Julian and Alexis fit together; it's as simple as that, and as complicated. Yes, they are dysfunctional, and Julian has done horrible things to Alexis, but everything he did, as misguided as it was, was in the name of love. Alexis knows that, and more to the point, she believes it, which is why she can't stay away from him.

Julian and Alexis are the loves of each other's lives, and that's why she can forgive him for holding a knife to her throat. Much like Laura forgave Luke for raping her, Monica forgave Alan for trying to blow her and Rick up, and Carly forgave Sonny for all the awful things he put her and their family through over the years because of his criminal lifestyle.

Speaking of criminals, Cassandra's little reign of terror came to a screeching halt when she confronted Finn with a powder puff of her toxic opioid. Her intention was to force Finn to work for her by getting him hooked on her drugs. Apparently, years of taking Zen-Zen prepared him for Cassandra's little opioid cocktail, and he was able to wrestle her to the ground and jam her with the syringe she'd been threatening him with if he didn't agree to become her minion.

Things get a bit hazy from there. After Anna raced into the house and found Cassandra unconscious on the floor and Finn staggering around in a drug-induced haze, she called 9-1-1, but somehow, Cassandra mysteriously vanished at some point and ended up dumped in an alley in a comatose state. I have no idea how someone managed to drag Cassandra out of Anna's house with Anna only a few feet away, but that's the story that Anna told Jordan.

Luckily, Anna didn't kill Cassandra when she had the opportunity, but she was sorely tempted because of what Cassandra had done to Finn.

I like Anna and Finn. To be honest, at first, I was leery about where the writers were headed with them. I was afraid that they intended to throw them together and force a romantic pairing, which didn't initially seem like a good idea because Anna and Finn have such different personalities. The writers surprised me, though -- they've done that a lot lately -- by capturing the most interesting parts of Finn and Anna's quirky personalities and finding a way to make them complement each other.

They took their time to fan the spark of chemistry between the characters into a nice little flame, and the result was a surprisingly fun romance.

I know that Hayden is still lurking in the wings with a baby, but why should Finn pine for a woman who left him and sent a cowardly Dear John letter? As far as Finn knows, his child is dead, and Hayden has moved on. Hayden made her choice, Finn is free to pursue a relationship with whomever he likes.

Admittedly, I'm not happy with Hayden because I think it was wrong and selfish of her to tell Finn that the baby had died. Just like Valentin didn't have the right to keep Charlotte from Lulu, I don't believe that Hayden has the right to keep Finn from his child. A child deserves to have two parents unless one of those parents is a danger to that child, which Finn isn't.

Heck, an argument could be made that Hayden is more of a danger to the child.

I digress. Finn deserves to be with a woman who makes him happy, and Anna appears to make him happy. Just as important, Finn makes her happy. It's nice to see Anna smiling again and to have someone who challenges her. The spy and the nerdy scientist works for me.

What doesn't work for me is Carly's obsession with Jason's love life.

Carly is the very last person who should be meddling in anyone's love life. She's married Sonny so often that it wouldn't shock me if they had their own wing at the courthouse just to hold all the copies of their marriage licenses and divorce decrees. Additionally, Carly isn't just meddling with Jason, Sam, and Drew's lives, but also the lives of their children, and that's a line she has no business crossing.

And that brings me to Jason. For all his declarations of love for Sam, not once have I heard him offer to give Sam the kind of life that Drew is offering her. Jason loves her, but he's still unwilling to make the changes necessary to keep her and her children safe. It infuriates me that Carly completely ignores the fact that Sam is a different person than the woman who kissed Jason goodbye on that fateful night five years ago.

I do believe that Sam will always love Jason and mourn what could have been, but that life is her past, and her future is with Drew.

I'm happy that Drew has decided to contact the Navy to start the ball rolling on exploring his life as Andrew Cain because something tells me that Kim is still keeping secrets.

Could Kim know more about what happened to Drew than she's letting on? The reason I wonder is because I'm skeptical about her story that she packed up her son, closed her successful practice, and moved to Port Charles on the off chance that she might run into Drew or his family. I recall when Oscar first confided to Josslyn about his desire to find his father that he'd told Josslyn that his mother had shut down his recent attempts to talk about his father. Why would Kim shut down a conversation about Oscar's father if the reason she moved to Port Charles was to help him connect with his father's side of the family?

I also have questions about Betsy Frank's story that Franco pushed Drew down a flight of stairs when she wasn't looking. To start with, Betsy is a liar. She has lied to Franco about everything his whole life, and when she was confronted with those lies, she lied some more. Additionally, why would Franco have such strong memories of how much he loved Drew and how Drew was his other half, yet he shoved Drew down a flight of stairs without warning?

Betsy is clearly not the most mentally stable person, so I suspect the truth is that Betsy was overwhelmed with caring for two young children and hurt Drew. From what Franco said, it was clear that Drew was the more rambunctious and outgoing child, while Franco was the introverted one. That would explain why Betsy kept Franco and sent Drew to the orphanage.

Regardless, I don't think that Franco pushed Drew down the stairs, and I find it troubling that Betsy told Franco that it happened. A loving mother would claim it was an accident and leave it at that, since the boys were too young to remember the details of what happened, and she, by her own account, didn't witness the incident.

Meanwhile, Nathan is in a similar boat because he just found out that Liesl had lied about Victor Cassadine being his father. According to Liesl, Nathan's real father is Cesar Faison, but she hid the truth to keep Faison from getting his evil mitts on Nathan and dragging the infant off to his lair to corrupt Nathan's tender soul.

My soapy-senses tell me there is more to the story than meets the eye because Liesl wasn't just madly in love with Faison, she was downright obsessed with the man. Like, to the point where she would have cut off her arm without a second thought if he'd asked her to do it.

The idea that Liesl would suddenly decide that the man who was her sun and moon was also a threat to their son -- a son he had longed for -- just doesn't make sense. Liesl would have done anything to turn Faison away from his own obsession with Anna, and giving him a son would have achieved that, but he also would have put Liesl on a pedestal. I just can't see Liesl hiding Nathan from his father then continuing to cling to Faison for decades. Liesl is hiding something, and I can't help but wonder if it has to do with Faison's other newfound son.

The minute I heard that there was a second son, my first thought was Peter August -- the guy who showed up around the time that Jason escaped from the clinic in Russia and who is currently helping Drew and Sam with Aurora Media. Peter also recently challenged Lulu to write a story about Cesar Faison. I immediately realized that Peter asked Lulu to do the story because he hoped to use her, and her connections, to track down his father.

It remains to be seen if Peter is Faison's son -- and if Peter is a good guy. It's hard to know because Faison's enemies don't always wear white hats.

Finally, some clarification on my reference to Shawn Butler languishing in jail for a crime he didn't commit. I realize that he was guilty of going to the garage to carry out a hit on Jason (now Drew), but I was referring to the more serious charges stemming from Hayden Barnes being shot in the head by Nikolas' gunman. The bullet that Shawn fired was eventually recovered from the garage, so people do know that he's innocent of that crime.

Wow! That Greg Evigan playing the man who met with Ned and Michael at Metro Court to discuss the Charles Street redevelopment project. I had the biggest crush on him when I was a kid and he starred on B.J. and the Bear.

I found it quite odd that on New Year's Eve, Drew needed a ride to pier 55 from the hospital, even though the hospital's staff regularly walks to Kelly's during lunch breaks, which is right by the piers.

Why doesn't Spinelli bring Georgie with him when he pops into town? More importantly, why can't Spinelli and Maxie work out a more generous visitation schedule now that Maxie's life is settled down, she's happily married, and expecting? It's more important than ever for Georgie to be assured of her mother's love and her place in Maxie's life with a new sibling on the way who will be living with their mother full-time.

I really like Sam with Drew. Don't a lot of us have people in our past that we loved? Doesn't mean we want to give up on our future, and what we now know is better for us to grow and be happy. Well, except maybe Sonny and Carly. LOL. -- bikette

My heart is still with Hayden and Finn. I hope Hayden and baby return to shake things up with Anna and Finn. Finn must have his baby. I hope for the #FinnFamily we were supposed to have. I say #Fayden2018! -- Lois Troutman

I am the first to admit I was not, and still not sure if I am, a Jason fan. That includes when Drew was Jason, but his scenes were amazing this past week. And the little boy who plays Danny was absolutely fantastic in his scene with him. -- BCAD

The original Nurse Amy, was Amy Vining, Laura's 'supposed' little sister. She was pretty, witty & a notorious gossip. Unfortunately, her portrayer, Shell Kepler died. It was insulting to bring on another 'Amy' just to fill a slot in the Nurses Ball. If writers had not killed off Sabrina the "voice" of Risa Dorken would have not been needed!! I despise this character!! -- Cynthia CC Payne

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts. I love hearing from readers so please feel free to email me or leave a comment below.

Take care and happy viewing,Liz Masters

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