Preparing for New Year

After Christmas, and perhaps after-Christmas shopping, it is good to take stock of exactly where we are. We have done some weeding and have a large box full of items to donate. These are gently used clothes and other items that would be useful in some other household. Making some space in the closets and drawers is a nice way to start the new year.

I also want to make some space in my inner world as well. I've been doing housecleaning there as well. In reviewing some of my goals for 2007, I see where I've made nice progress, other places where I need more work. I don't make specific resolutions to change, but instead set goals for growth where I would like to see improvement. Many years ago, I set a goal to work out almost daily. It is now habit, but as I review, I recommit to this important health goal. I set goals to read uplifting thoughts daily and am selecting from among my many 'thoughts for the day' books to choose the two for the upcoming year. One will be from a favorite author that died in 2007, Madeleine L'Engle. This start and end to my day help keep me posted on the positive and uplifting when it would be easy to look at the negative all around me.

Think about the evening rituals in your family. One we have is to pray together as a family. This helps us to think about the needs in our family and voice our love and support for each other. Reading aloud a chapter together in an engaging book is a great evening ritual-it brings more closeness than watching tv together, promotes literacy, and reading aloud is a great skill to have. Children are more inclined to read if their parents do.

Make an effort to allow unstructured free time for your children-and let them direct you in playing with them. Most of us allow our imagination to wither away as we get older. There are treasures there if we will allow them to surface. This is a great evening activity, maybe right after dinner for an hour or so. One game that our grandkids love is making huge piles of all the cushions on our couches. They like being hidden in them, stacking them to push them over, and building houses with them.

Envision the world you would like to create within your home and then set achievable goals to build that world. I wish you the happiest of new years, filled with love and satisfaction.