A New Tradition For An Old Year

Santa Claus Wagon

I love this time of year. The transition from the festivity of the holidays into the relative calm of January feels like a nice, deep breath. I enjoy putting all of the holiday photo cards we received in December into an album and I like how clean and neat the house looks after we´ve tucked the holiday decorations carefully into their boxes.

There is one thing I don´t much care for this time of year, however, and that´s New Year´s Eve. Although I´ve never really put my finger on why I don´t like New Year´s, I suppose it´s because it has always felt like a holiday infused with too many expectations and not enough substance. After all of the richness of Thanksgiving and Christmas, New Year´s seems a little empty to me.

This year, in mid-December, I sat on the couch drinking a cup of coffee while my 17-month-old son played with his trucks on the floor. "Probably not a bad idea to drink less coffee in 2007," I thought inhaling the delicious aroma from my steaming cup. Then I grimaced, mulling over how to implement resolution #2, cutting back on caffeine, while still sticking to resolution #1, implementing an early-morning work-out regimen. Ugh. I found myself wondering, absent-mindedly, if my son would write New Year´s resolutions one day. "Oh, I hope not," I thought to myself, "I really hope that he likes himself enough to not waste his time writing resolutions."

Wait, WHAT?!

Do you ever find yourself having a thought that is so unexpected that it brings your brain screeching to a halt? A thought so startling that it feels almost like it came from somewhere else? Because that´s what happened to me as I sat there on the couch that day; in a flash I realized that in the name of New Year´s resolutions I have spent the last few weeks of December for as long as I can remember contemplating all of the things I don´t like about myself, writing them down and vowing to change them in the coming year. No wonder I don´t like this holiday!

My mind began to spin with my new-found revelation. This is not what I´m about and it is definitely not how I aim to live my life. Slowly, I began to form a new resolution to look upon the year past not with regret for the things I did not accomplish or the aspects of myself I think I could improve. I have resolved to treat the year past with respect and gratitude for all of the joys it brought to me and my family and to appreciate the good in the year that we are bidding farewell.

In this spirit, last night, my husband and I began a new tradition. Before dinner with friends and family we went around the table and took turns saying three things that we really loved about the year gone by. Not surprisingly, not one person mentioned cutting back on caffeine or sticking to a workout regimen. Instead, we talked about travel and friends and kids and the joy of trying new things. We laughed, remembering things we had nearly forgotten and heard stories that we had never heard before.

As our family grows, it is my hope that we will continue this tradition with our children and that in saying these things out loud we will remind each other that life is not always about looking forward and striving to meet our goals. Perhaps with this small gesture we will remember that the year past was full of moments of magic and that the year to come will, once again, offer us boundless opportunities to love our friends, our families and, yes, even ourselves.

Sasha is the owner and founder of Sasha B. Designs, an online baby boutique that specializes in beautiful, handmade nursing covers for breastfeeding moms. Shop online at http://www.sashabdesigns.com