I’ve heard multiple negative comments about New Year’s resolutions over the week leading up
to New Year’s Day. I’ve listened to comments and conversations about how the tradition is
foolish; that people give up far too quickly, or how we don’t need a day to make new goals we
could otherwise make anytime of the year.
Call me a simpleton, but I love New Year’s resolutions. I love the idea of a fresh start. I get
excited about the opportunity to begin something new; to check in with myself and evaluate
what is working and where improvement is needed. I love that I can make new goals and think
about and hope for what the coming year has in store for me.
Whether or not you’re in the category of folks previously mentioned, New Year’s can hold
entertaining traditions, and chances to bond with friends and family even without the goal
setting. Beside my favorite New Year’s tradition of watching “It’s a Wonderful Life”, I’m happy to share a few of the things that my family and I like to do to bring the New Year in with a BANG!
Tradition 1: Predictions
This idea is one my brother started with his cute family 7 or 8 years ago, and over time has been
adopted by several other members of our family.
Each year they head to their favorite pizza buffet and enjoy re-reading their predictions from
the previous year. They’ve loved sharing with all of us the baby, marriage, relocation, and
different event predictions that have come to fruition, and we’ve all laughed about some that
may have been a bit off. Before they leave they write new predictions and seal them up for safe
keeping until they reconvene the following year.
Tradition 2: Personal & Family Theme Words
Something my family has recently started is picking a “family theme word” for the year.
Everyone throws in some words they think we need to focus on as a family, and then after
some discussion, we decide on a final word together. Throughout the year, we try to come up
with small exercises, activities or devotionals that incorporate our theme word. Sometimes
we’ll even have a monthly word that coincides with the yearly word, then do a short project or
have a little lesson on how we can incorporate that characteristic as individuals, and as a family.
For example, our family word for this year is “Gratitude.” The kids will have about 10 minutes
in the morning, before we begin our homeschool lessons, to fill out a prompt sheet about
gratitude that will help them recognize and acknowledge the blessings in their lives.
Kindness was another word that a member in our family mentioned they’d like to focus on. As
we discussed which word we’d like to make our main word for the year, we agreed that
kindness could be tied into gratitude and that we’d use it as a sub word. January in particular,
we’ll focus on how gratitude can help us be kinder to those around us, especially each other.
We’ll do little things through the month that will help us correlate kindness to gratitude. Yes,
this does take a little thought and work, but if you don’t mind that, it’s a great way to help focus
on uplifting qualities for our kids and get them involved and thinking about different traits we
can improve on as a family. Some other sub themes we’ve discussed: “Gratitude can help us be
more selfless, fiscally responsible, service oriented, educated, and responsible (luckily for me,
gratitude can be tied to quite a few things.)
You can do as much or as little as you like with it, which is one of the things that makes it such a
fitting and versatile tradition for any family. It can be tailored to whatever you would like it to
be.
Tradition 3: The “Year in Review” Jar.
I love this tradition! It is so much fun to look back on all the memories and to re-live the
highlights and different perspectives of the past year. Here’s how it works.
At the beginning of the year, ready an empty mason jar with a slit in the lid. Each week (we
generally pick Sunday, just because it’s the day we happen to all be home) we each write down
a short sentence or two describing a highlight from our week. On the Sunday after New Year’s,
we make a special dinner, one that everyone loves, and take turns pulling notes out of the jar
and reading everyone’s highlights for the year. This does take some time! (six of us x 52 weeks
in the year, you do the math.) and we usually will go through dinner, then take a break to clean
up, then continue reading while we pass around treats. Even though it does take a good
amount of our night, everyone loves the reminiscing, laughs, and time spent together. I keep all
of the ideas, then type them up and include them in our family book for the year
Tradition 4: Pre-Planning the year
Something we started doing recently, during the same time as picking our family word, we also
like to get some fun things on the calendar for the year.
My kids participated in the PBS Kids Adventure pass this year. If you don’t know what that is,
and you have preschool- 6 th grade aged children, I would recommend looking into it! The kids
are challenged to read or be read to for 600 minutes during the month of November. Then,
anytime in December, you go to their site and record their reading. They then shoot you an
“Adventure Pass” for each of your participants with tons of free or discounted events and visits
that are sponsored by different companies. Some of ours include; Thanksgiving point, Utah
Symphony, Hogle Zoo, Discovery Gateway, and the Clark Planetarium, along with many more
from all around the state! Some are only valid during certain months of the year, and others
can used at any time.
There are so many great opportunities for fun and learning, I knew we needed to get some on
the calendar if we were going to find time to get through all of them! So, we decided to get
some adventures scheduled and do some strategic planning so we could hit the ones further
away from us at the same time. Some of these include a trip to St George for The Children’s
Museum and the Dinosaur Discovery Site; a day trip to Ogden to visit the Ogden Nature Center;
and Toads Fun Center, plus all the little adventures that are close to us that are now on the
calendar. We also are looking forward to our first family reunion this year, and that was
another event that had our kiddos all kinds of lit up! When we gave them the details and had it
written down it became real – and exciting! Possibly the most exciting thing for Dad and I is
that, for the most part, they’re low cost or free!
I would encourage thinking through some events you’d like to attend this year and get them on
the calendar! It creates an exhilarating view of the year to come and is exceptionally fun for
those of us who get the after-Christmas-blues, and who need a little light in the tunnel!
A little adjustment if you’re not quite ready to settle on dates is to make a family bucket list for
the year! Separate the bucket list into seasons, then it at least gives you a target date range to
get ready for.
Tradition 5: Burn the Bad
I love this tradition. As someone who has a hard time letting go of hurt, guilt, or other negative
feelings, burning the bad is a powerful release for the New Year, and it doesn’t take much, just
a paper, a pen, and a flame. (A responsible flame, please)
On New Years Eve, about an hour or so before 12:00, you can write any negative that you want
to let go of down on a piece of paper. That can include feeling towards an individual, regret
from a personal action, insecurities, basically anything that can bring negativity into your heart
or mind. Then, shortly before welcoming in of the new year, you burn the paper – letting go and
turning the negativity in your life to ashes. If you want, toss them to the wind.
Obviously, the will to let go will come from within, but there is something overwhelmingly
powerful about acknowledging and writing the negative down, then turning it over to the fire.
There is healing in watching the gloom that has weighed you down disappear into ash, as your
heart makes room for hope in the New Year.
In conclusion, whether you’re a goal setter or someone looking for something to help bond and create meaningful ties, I’m a dedicated believer that traditions keep families together, and New Years is no exception.
I hope some of these ideas help create moments of hope, love, and laughter as you
“Drink a cup of kindness yet, for the sake of Auld Lang Syne”
Happy New Year’s, ya’ll!
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