New Year: Unresolved

New Year's Eve and Day have never been my favorite celebration. It might be partly because it comes so close on the heels of Christmas, and I'm a bit worn out. But besides that, the end of the year always seems like an approaching deadline. I start thinking about all the things I wish I had done, and usually end up lying in bed, worrying that some really good coupons are expiring.

Also, years ago I heard the superstitious idea that the thing you are doing at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve is a predictor of what you will be doing all year. If that's true, I will be spending 2015 loading the dishwasher. (Hey, wait just a minute! That's what I've been doing all last year!)

Anyway, I'm not making New Year's resolutions this year. I have in the past, but they never really worked for me. I realized this some time ago when I was doing a little spring cleaning and found an index card that I had written my resolutions on. I read them and remembered writing them a few months earlier. But then I saw the date written on the card and realized this was from three years ago. Same un-achieved dreams, different year.

For me, it's better to make some goals and commitments when school gets out for the summer, and then when it starts again. Those are times of real change in our house; change that feels bigger than hanging a new calendar on the bulletin board and trying to remember to put down the right year when I write a check.

But I do think the coming of a new year is a good time for personal thought and reflection. So instead of making a list of goals this week, I'm making a list of things I love. Here's what I have so far:

Hearing children's laughter
Walking barefoot on a warm sidewalk
Lying under a tree and looking up through the branches
Christmas smells
Milkshakes
Nuts
Browsing in a good thrift shop
Making people laugh
Feeling the Spirit
Music that makes me want to smile, or dance, or cry
Seeing my children playing happily together
Living near mountains
Libraries
Warm, freshly baked bread
Quilts!

I'll keep adding to my list, and maybe it will inspire a thought or two in some of you. But what I'm noticing now is that the things that I have deemed “happifiers” are pretty simple stuff. It occurs to me that I might enjoy the new year more if I made an effort to include – and appreciate – these little things I love.

Maybe I should make a New Year's resolution to do that . . . no, no!

Wishing You a Fabluous New Year!