It is a New Year! We had a family party and made a ton of treats and ate too much and watched some movies we got for Christmas and then Nick and I got tired and couldn’t stay up. The kids made it until midnight and quickly fell asleep (or so they told me). I’m not one for making a big deal of the New Year, and traditionally, I’m rather against New Year’s resolutions, but this year I’ve spent a lot of time thinking and I’ve made some decisions to do some things and to try to change some other things about myself. Wish me luck!
I love Christmas and I really enjoyed it, but surrounded by family and happiness, I also found myself a little blue. When I realized that I was down, I tried to figure out what was keeping me from enjoying myself. It took a little introspection to figure out what was bugging me and when I did figure it out, I was a little disappointed in myself. I’m a very type A, goal oriented person. I like to be productive and get a lot done and I usually gauge how good my day is or how I’m doing in life by how far on my to-do list I can get. Well, with everyone on vacation and playing for Christmas, I was lucky to get myself dressed and the family fed. The house was very lived in and all my projects and “to-dos” had to be set aside, and myI found myself a little depressed because the (eternally unimportant) things that I based myself on weren’t getting done.
I was mad at myself when I realized why I wasn’t totally happy. It is ridiculous to base my happiness and my sense of accomplishment and self worth and such unimportant trivialities. So… my resolution is to live more in the moment, as Thoreau said “to live deliberately.” Dallin H Oakes taught that: “In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something.” I feel like that applies to me, with maybe a little word changing. I’m not just too worried about knowing something, but also doing something, when the truly important thing is what I am inside.
Enough sermonizing and introspection! That being said, I find that there isn’t a lot else to share. Things have calmed down here, considerably. The kids finished up basketball before Christmas and our schedules have cleared for the near future. (Thus all the introspection!) Even though we are done with Christmas break, the kids have had a teacher inservice day, a snow day and tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jn. day. They have been home a lot! They were so excited to finally have snow the first day it snowed. I tried to convince them to wait until later in the day to go outside, when it would be warmer, but they were determined to go out early and play. It surprised me that, despite the temperature, they lasted a long time outside building forts, shoveling snow, and playing with the sleds. It’s good that they enjoyed it, because the snow was gone soon enough and I don’t know when we will see more!
Nick’s birthday is on Tuesday. I’m always excited for his birthday to come. He is younger than me. Most of the time, I’m only two years older than he is, but between my birthday and his, if you just do the math on our ages, I pull ahead by another year. That is part of why I like it when he gets to add another year to his age, it makes us closer in age and makes me feel, if not younger, at least like I’m not robbing the cradle!
