A Refreshing Start To The New Year
While the entire year of 2020 was wildly different than any other year ever, and the holidays were unlike any other, New Years Eve was perfectly normal. Thank Goodness! Every New Years since becoming a mother ten years ago I’ve only made it to midnight maybe three times. One year I even was lucky enough to come home from the hospital on News Year Eve with a brand new baby Mila. I remember that year being deliciously lazy.
The days of dressing up and dancing the night away are happily long gone. Now my New Years Eve is filled with comfort food, champagne, sweat pants and bed before 11pm. It is quite incredible and I am sure matches a lot of your NYE nights too! We watch movies and don’t tune in to any ball drops, performances or count downs. For someone who LOVES holidays as much as I do it can feel kind of ironic that I want nothing to do with the quintessential New Years Eve celebrations. I really can’t imagine much else other than parking my butt in bed with a drink and a few sweet treats.
So what did we actually do for New Years besides sit on the couch after the kids went to bed? Dan’s mom (and her sister) own a beach house about an hour away from us. They haven’t been using it much and we were lucky enough to go down and stay there for New Years + the weekend just us. Our little family hasn’t had a change in scenery in a long time. It felt so refreshing to be out of our home and in a familiar place that holds so many fun memories for us. Typically every Summer Dan’s entire family packs into the tiny beach house for long Summer days and even longer Summer nights enjoying each other. This year none of that happened. It was weird being at the house just us, but the girls were overjoyed. Even the baby was crawling in excitement from room to room. All of us wore pi’s for three days straight. We walked to the beach a few times. One afternoon we drove to get milkshakes to go. We cooked comfort food, watched way too much Disney+ and just loved on each other as 2020 turned into 2021.
It all felt like a breath of fresh air. A much needed breath of fresh air.
This year has taught us all about gratitude for the things we used to consider simple. Though now a days ordinary things that feel simple, feel tremendous. Our home. Our health. Our food. Even FaceTime technology feels like a spa luxury when I miss my sister so much it hurts. Those things are important right now and anything else in addition feels like cherries and sprinkles and sparkles. Getting to stay at the family beach house for a few days felt like MAJOR sparkles and I’ll never take a trip to the tiny beach house for granted ever again! It’s close to home and a place we’ve been time and time again. But this past weekend felt like an all inclusive resort stay with just Dan, the girls and I!
At the start of this year it felt insane to close ourselves off from seeing family and frequenting public places. Over time it continued to feel insane and weigh heavy. Our family is beyond privileged to have been able to end the year in one piece. That fact is not lost on me. It actually makes me realize exactly what is important. It crystal clears up a lot of cloudy crap that was clogging things up in 2019. 2020 was a disaster and as the dust slowly settles it shows me that what I’ve had in my hands all this time is enough. It proves to me that I can create my own happy as I have all year long inside my home with my family.
To be honest I’m still processing this past year. To be full transparent I’m five days into 2021 and things still feel very 2020ish. I’m making sure to begin and end each day with gratitude. Writing out things that I have to savor, things that I can do on my own or close to home that offers happiness. Forcing myself to sit and take things one second at a time with my girls. Even though we tend to not go anywhere really, there still seems to be a rush during the day. Things, tasks, even meals go by fast and before I know it the weekend is here again. Another week gone. This new year I’m promising to move slower, savor more, show myself more love. I need to work on my patience and giving my kids, my husband, and mostly myself more grace. I’m not big on resolutions or long term goals. But those are the things I’m leading with at the start. For now!
Happy New Year Friends!
