NEW YEAR/NEW YOU

Christmas is over and already I'm thinking about my "New Year's Resolutions", though I prefer to think of them as "My desires for the New Year". I  love having new beginnings, fresh starts, inspiring ideas,  creative goals, and new desires  for the new year ahead ( OK sometimes OLD ideas but I keep trying! ).  I  like to find inspiring, creative, and lovely journals or notebooks in which  to write my new desires and goals as if I'm writing a book in which I will create a wonderful plan of what I want to be, do, and have in 2012 to make it THE BEST YEAR EVER! At least in those things that depend on ME! I DO realize that I am not in control of everything! ; ) For those things I CAN'T control, I ask for serenity.

The time between Christmas and New Year's is the best time for this creative planning so you're ready to begin when the new year rolls around. But you can start this new routine/habit/attitude ANYTIME so if you get a late start don't let that stop you! The important thing is that you BEGIN to assess where you ARE in life and where you'd LIKE TO BE so you can begin to make some changes. There's an old saying that if you DO what you always DID, you'll GET what you always GOT.  And even if you're happy with your current situation in life, you can always be a BETTER PERSON. No one's perfect so there's always room for improvement!

Journal with sweet bird for our birding friends...find here

Letter Writer shabby book found here

So where do you begin? I've found some fun journals on Etsy that may inspire you. They are upcycled vintage books that are lined for writing down your goals, desires, thoughts of what you'd like to do, be, and have in the year ahead. Check these out...

Find this lovely floral journal here

 

 

 

 

Collage/altered art journal...find here

 

 

 

Whimsical journal that also includes photos of nursery rhymes. Find it here

After you find something in which to write down all your ideas you are ready to begin. Start by writing out a description of the KIND OF PERSON you'd like to BE, the TRAITS you'd like to possess, how you would like to SPEND YOUR TIME here on planet earth, what you would like to HAVE, being as specific as possible. Write this in the present tense as if it is happening right now.

From this description, go through and make a LIST of the items you mentioned. This list is from which you choose what goals/desires you wish to seek after in the year ahead. You may not wish to work on ALL of them but we'll talk about that later. I'll go into more detail in the next few posts.

If you're one of the people who does not like to set goals, that's OK too. I can still show you how to have MORE of what you want in the year ahead so stay tuned. But DO find a creative book, journal, or notebook in which you can write down  your inspirations and thoughts.

THANKSGIVING IDEAS

My LAST post was about decorating SIMPLY for Thanksgiving. Today I'll share how I get everyone involved in the preparation and also engaged in activities during the BIG DAY itself. Spreading the work around ALSO simplifies things.

Ahead of time:   Everything is more fun when everyone is involved somehow in the preparations. Some people love to share their favorite special dish for the meal. Now you don't have to do all the cooking.  Family will always look forward to "Aunt Bea's mincemeat pie" for example. I like to get the little children involved by having them make place cards ahead of time. Children can also make table decorations for a special children's table. There are a lot of fun and simple ideas on the internet.

On Thanksgiving Day:    Since the purpose of the day is to Give Thanks, one of the things I have done is to have the little children take a sheet of paper with the title on the top," I'M THANKFUL FOR..."and go around to everyone and have them write down what they are thankful for. Then I take"Thanksgiving kids coloring pages" that I've downloaded from the internet and have the kids color them. A Thanksgiving booklet can be made simply by stapling together the colored Thanksgiving pictures and the list of things everyone is thankful for. This can be read throughout the day by family and friends. It also keeps little ones busy with a project while the food is being prepard. Of course there is always a special prayer of thanks before the meal, remembering what God has done in all of our lives and a song of thanks that the grandchildren like to sing. Here is their favorite:

God, our Father,
God, our Father,
Once again, once again
Thank you for these blessings
Thank you for these blessings
Amen, Amen

But after the meal, the day is not over. Of course there are the typical football games that some enjoy watching and our family is no exception. But those of us not interested in sports on TV ( wierd people that we are ) I've usually planned some activities so we don't get lulled to sleep by the tryptophan in the turkey. So here are some things we have included in our "Day Of Thanks":

1) The kids ALWAYS have to put on a "show" for us. This just goes without saying. So we always plan on the" Kids Show". This takes up a lot of time for the kids because they have to spend time putting it together and then practicing. OUR kids also make PROGRAMS to hand out so making them also fills a lot of time for them! ( The football watching guys have to take time to watch this also so we shoot for commercial times. ) The show itself takes much less time than the practice and making the programs.
2) A walk. We DO need to take a walk to "walk off" the BIG MEAL. Most everyone gets in on this and the fresh air feels great!
3) Visit over pie and coffee. The candles are still lit for the ambience and everyone catches up on each others' lives.  It seems no one is hungry right after eating so we wait until later for this casual ritual.
4) Board Games.We pull out the favorites that require a bit of ACTION. Nothing is worse than a QUIET board game with people "drugged out" on tryptophan.
4) BINGO  This was a favorite for several years. My daughter and I found things around the house that we could use for prizes ( unwrapped note cards, unused candles, etc. but also some funny "booby prize" types.) We gift wrapped them also. So we had a large basket full of small gift wrapped presents as prizes. When someone would win they could pick a prize out of the pile. But after the first prize was opened, the next winner could take a gift from the pile OR someone else' gift ( and then they would give THAT person another wrapped prize). This became quite popular and was continued for several years.( We change up some activities depending on the ages of guests, the number of guests, etc.)
My daughter liked it so much that she and her husband continued the tradition when they moved to China. Their guests were from all over the world and most had not celebrated Thanksgiving, not being from the U.S. but wanted to celebrate with them. They also couldn't find turkeys in China so they settled for a different kind of bird. But the BINGO game went on with prizes and all and everyone LOVED it!

These are just SOME of the things we've done to entertain ourselves throughout our Thanksgiving holidays. Share some of YOURS here!

Below are some photos from Country Living of things you can do for place cards, kids table,  take-home left-overs, and other ideas.

I LOVE these ideas from COUNTRY LIVING because they are natural, simple, and affordable!