The New Year is literally my favorite! I so love the start of a new year, all fresh and sparkly in my mind. I have been enjoying not only the holidays and Christmastide, but a feeling of energy and new beginnings in the quiet coziness. This is the beautiful blessing I often share on the New Year, from my home to yours:
May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life’s passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours.
-From an Old Irish Blessing, author unknown
My wishes for you in the New Year:
May this year be the one in which you are ENOUGH just the way you are.
May this year be the one in which you are content.
May this year be the one where you are loved as richly as you deserve.
May this year be one of bountiful and deep friendships, beautiful family memories, and love.
May this year be the year that you help someone else, the year of your generous spirit blossoming.
May this year be the one that is perfect for you and where you are in life and may you enjoy it abundantly!
I love the more introverted vibe of this season – nesting with blankets and hot drinks and inside fun, but still being able to go outside for a walk in the rain or bright sunshine with colder temperatures!
January is actually one of my favorite months of the year. Suzanne Down had a beautiful little story in her most recent newsletter, and I found the public domain version of it here to share with you: https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/165/buttercup-gold-and-other-stories/2902/the-little-new-year/. It would be a lovely one to tell with puppetry for your children but it is also worth a read if you have older children or are an empty nester to remember the spirit of Christmastide and new beginnings all around!
Here are some of the days we will be celebrating in January:
January 1 – New Year’s Day
January 6– The Feast of Epiphany and Epiphanytide that stretches until Lent begins on Wednesday, February 18 this year (and Easter is on Sunday, April 5th for those of you planning ahead!)
January 18 to January 25 Week of Prayer for Chrisian Unity
January 19– Martin Luther King, Jr Day – also celebrated January 15 and April 4 in The Episcopal Church
Janaury 18– The Feast Day of St. Peter
January 25 – The Feast Day of St. Paul
Rhythm is strength, and I have things in place for the house with outside the home work, farm work, and homeschooling our tenth grader. This is key to fitting in my priority of health and family plus work! I still work for two different companies providing physical therapy and lactation services plus have my own business so the days can vary, but I am learning to streamline more. I hope to eventually move into teaching at the college level and will streamline clinical work even more.
The farm is at only three horses right now that require care. We had six horses previously, two were boarders – one horse very sadly died, one horse went to his family home as they were building a barn, and one of our horses is being leased and is at our trainer’s farm down the road. We still have two beehives plus our indoor dogs and cats. We still have many renovation projects to go in the house (this year we are renovating our master bath), and landscaping and pasture pieces to fulfill, but slowly we are getting there. This house and property has been an incredible project. We were lucky to find this during the pandemic, but it has been a ton of work with literally not one thing from insulation, plumbing, water lines, heating, etc needing to be redone up through the pastures, barn, etc. It can be overwhelming at times, but then I remember how much I wished and prayed for this place and get my gratitude on again!
I usually pick a word of the year instead of making resolutions, and this year I chose the word “ROOTED.” Do you have a word of the year to bring you focus and clarity? My past words have included words such as radiant, abundant, vibrant, bold (2023) ,replenishment, and last year was commit This year, I have really sat with a planner, a vision board, and a prayer board and just thought about how to bring pieces of “ROOTED” to life this year and what types of support I will need to make that happen.
These are a few of the things we are enjoying this month:
- Daily outside time – when our children were small and we lived in neighborhoods, this was mainly in the form of a daily walk, and park time. Now it is mainly in the form of barn chores but I also am starting to walk again. I actually don’t generally mind the colder weather.
- Puzzles and board games
- Green smoothies and juicing
- Making freezer meals
- Exercising – I go to the gym, and generally do a combination of hot yoga, lifting weights, and Zumba.
- Creating
- Going out as a couple
- Playing with our horses, dogs, and cats
- Beekeeping
- Indoor microgreens!
If you are looking for fun things to do with children, these are things we have enjoyed: Cut out paper snowflakes, including really cool 3-D snowflakes; dip candles; roll candles; play board games or card games with your children; draw, paint, model; whittle wood; make popcorn together; bake together; play in the snow – build snow forts; have snowball fights; snowshoe; downhill or cross country ski; ice skate on a pond; read and tell stories; build forts inside; take a walk outside in the cold – look for animal tracks or berries or birds or all of the above; knit, crochet, cross stitch, finger knit, spin, sew; sing and make music together – learn some new songs; clean, scrub, dust, work around the house – rearrange furniture; go bowling or find an indoor swimming pool to swim in; write letters to family and friends; write stories together; snuggle on the coach with hot chocolate and marshmallows; cook for a neighbor; find a place of worship to attend and get involved; throw a party; clicker train your dog, cat, or other animal; take care of plants; start seeds indoors when it it is time
On the parenting and homeschooling front, our oldest lives and works about an hour from us but comes to farm frequently because her horse is here. Our middle child is working towards her own business in the equine industry, and our youngest is a sophomore in high school. He is enjoying being in Sea Scouts. Homeschooling doesn’t look quite like it used to when I was homeschooling three children Monday through Friday, but we still have days of homeschooling in addition to several days of classes at a local hybrid high school.
THINGS TO LOVE THIS MONTH!
Things to love this month:
The other thing I am really enjoying is Hearth & Home for all things homemaking. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do: https://www.myhearthandhome.com/
I hope you are a member of The Child is the Curriculum for seasonal living, Waldorf homeschooling, Waldorf parenting, and support! It’s an amazing resource for those of you Waldorf homeschooling : https://www.thechildisthecurriculum.com/subscriptions/?register=1
Lastly, if you love a good book club I like to see what books they are reading here: https://everyday-reading.com/the-2026-everyday-reading-book-club-list/ I also like outdoor memoir oriented books,( have you seen the books on Rugged OutdoorsWomen on Instagram?) so I have some of those on my list for this year! Other things I am interested in is doing an art class or taking some music lessons again (I play flute). Those might be good spring, summer, and fall ideas! I hope you have some fun things planned just for you!
Looking forward to celebrating throughout the year with you and supporting you on your parenting and homeschooling journey! I would love to hear what is on your mind regarding the New Year!
Many blessings to you and Happy New Year!
Carrie
The Parenting Passageway 