Wishes for the New Year

As you may remember, we have a New Year's ritual, given to us many years ago by our friends Kim and Anondo (who, by the way, are moving from NYC back to Colorado! Yay!). The ritual is to make twelve wishes on New Year's eve, eating a grape (or, in our case, blueberries) for each one. Eric and I alternate writing each one, and when the kids get older, I imagine they'll pitch in, too.

I keep the wishes posted on our bulletin board year round and check them over occasionally. They're not always wishes, but it's interesting to track them from year to year. Here are last year's, most of which came true!:

12 Wishes for 2009

1. A happy healthy family.
2. Consume less, give more.
3. Explore more.
4. Spend more time together (less TV!) [Editor's note: we watched more TV this year, I think, but at least we watched it together! And it often made us talk and laugh as we watched Jon Stewart while I did my pilates :)].
5. More music.
6. Foster inner peace.
7. Spend more time with friends and family.
8. More fulfilling work [Editor's note: This came especially true for Eric, eh?].
9. Get outside!
10. Patience with kids. Gentleness!
11. Make gifts for others [Errr...]
12. Eat good food and drink more water.

And for this year...

12 Wishes for 2010

1. Happy, healthy family.
2. Find joy at work.
3. Enjoy kids' enthusiasm.
4. Show compassion to kids.
5. Make time for things we enjoy.
6. Feel fit and strong.
7. Play!
8. More sincerity, less sarcasm.
9. Enjoy libations w/out excess.
10. Make AND be!
11. Relax.
12. More family fun and travel.

Sense a theme here? Maybe that old balance thing coming up a time or two?

The other cool thing about doing these is that I write them down on these really old postcards that were my great-grandmother's. Most are sort of Art Nouveau in style, and I think they're beautiful. I think I'll make a book out of the wishes some time soon.



The colors don't look right in this picture--it really is much prettier in person. I chose this one this year because we got a new car (whose name, by the way, is Shakira. Eric refuses to call it this, preferring "Paco Cinco," but the girls and I think that is utter nonsense. Long live Shakira!