Ringing in the new year

In thinking about making goals for the coming year, and deciding I didn’t want to make goals, it didn’t occur to me even once to look back on my goals for 2014 until I sat down to write this.

So I did. I re-read what I wrote at the beginning of 2014 and then I hung my head. Because I was going to write something very, very similar.

My goal last year was to drink more water. I wanted to be realistic, I said, because we were still adjusting to life as a family of four. A year later, that’s still how I feel. So my goal in 2015, again, is to drink more water.

My kids make it really hard for me to drink water. Maybe that sounds weird, but if I’m drinking out of something like a Camelbak, they steal it and drink it and I almost never feel comfortable drinking after them because they nearly always have a runny nose, cough, or just ate a handful or cat food.

If I drink out of a normal cup, it inevitably gets spilled unless I put it far out of reach, and then I never drink it. Then every night around 8 p.m. I’m totally dehydrated but don’t want to drink a ton of water before going to bed and then have to wake up even more than normal to make trips to the bathroom.

See my dilemma? See why I can never show up anywhere on time? It’s because I’m so busy figuring out brain busters like this.

Next puzzler: why can’t I seem to get to bed before 10:30 p.m.?

At the start of 2014 I vowed that I’d start the day with a big cup of water, and that still sounds like a good idea.

I also mentioned continuing to clear clutter. Living in close quarters has made that a lifestyle, so I’m not even going to include that anymore. It’s just what we do — we take big boxes of things to Goodwill every month and marvel at how our closets are still so, so full.

Mostly, I hope 2015 continues the exact way it started. My sister and her family are living about an hour away, which seems a bit surreal since they’ve lived in a different hemisphere for almost a decade. We rang in the new year with them.

The celebration was simple and quiet and wasn’t a bit traditional in that there was no champagne, no countdown, and no confetti at midnight. In fact, we barely even mentioned the holiday at all. Instead, we just spent good, quality time together. We ate delicious food, my sister made candy-scented Play-Doh for the kids, and the boys formed a secret club that they told everyone about.

My hope for 2015 is that it’s full of simple celebrations, quality time with friends and family, and eyes wide open to God’s abundant blessings.

2014-12-31 17.51.27

2014-12-31 17.52.00

2014-12-31 17.57.24

2014-12-31 18.07.52

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *