The year is winding down and, just between you and me, I'm getting tired.

Congress returns this week for its final spate of lame-duckity but it seems doubtful that anything significant will be accomplished. In fact, the likeliest scenario is another continuing resolution to keep the government going until the new Congress is sworn in.

Possibly they'll manage to pass a fiscal 2007 budget before President Bush submits the one for fiscal 2008.

The final month of the year is being punctuated by wildly fluctuating reports of how the economy is doing. Some folks look at the numbers say predict a modest slowing but continued growth in corporate profits and general wonderfulness.

Others look at the fact that gas prices are starting to climb again and consumer seem just a tad in the dumps and scratch their learned heads.

There are one or two times during the course of a year when everybody and everything seems to be holding their collective breath, waiting for that out with the old and in with the new stuff to get out of the way so they can get back down to business. The month of December is one of those time.

Always excepting our friends in retail, of course. With any luck, they are approaching crushingly busy along about now.

While the rest of us go into auto-pilot waiting mode, this is a good time of year to evaluate where our businesses are right now, how far they've come this year and where you'd like them to be by this time next year.

And included on your wish list for your business next year should be a certain number of your favorite small business policy initiatives.

When I talked to Todd Martini of Alex's Coupons for this week's Microbusiness Profile, he expressed the hope that somebody on Capitol Hill would eventually do something to reduce payroll taxes for the self-employed.

And, in light of his family's experiences with his daughter's cancer, it isn't surprising that he would also like them to finally do something about health care.

So, while we're waiting, let me ask you: what would you like Congress to put into your Christmas stocking?