Starting over

January can sometimes feel like a little bit of a “let-down” month after coming off all the exciting holiday bliss of December and not to mention my birthday followed by Daniel's birthday! After those special days, the decorations are all put away, the vacation time came to an end, there aren’t as many exciting holiday parties and family gatherings to be excited about, and for you out there, what used to seem like magical snowflakes suddenly becomes just ordinary, yucky, cold snow…

However, on the positive side we can look at January as a time of new beginnings, new goals, new plans, etc. which is exciting, so why not add to that by starting some brand new non-holiday traditions that you can do this year? 

 Let’s face it, traditions are just plain awesome! I love traditions. They mean something exciting to look forward to and anticipate. They give you a sense of security and familiarity and knowing what you can expect in this ever changing world. Traditions feel a lot like “home”. But too often we form all of our traditions just around holidays – I would guess that if we were to sit down and share traditions with each other, the vast majority of them would be tied to holidays only. So I am suggesting that we all consider creating some new traditions that have NOTHING to do with holidays! That will give us something to look forward to even when there isn’t a holiday on the horizon.

 Some ideas for weekly traditions you could do:
 Pick a favorite weekly TV show to watch religiously with your spouse or create a special weekly watching party where you have a group of friends over that night to all watch the show together. Or another idea is to implement Pizza Friday  tradition where you have Pizza for either lunch or dinner on Friday and watch your favorite movie afterwards. You may go out for pizza or make it at home. 

 Another idea is to implement a weekly date night tradition where you and your sweetheart have a set night each week that you go out on a fun date together. And what about doing a weekly family night where one night a week you start the tradition of doing something fun together as a family. Saturday morning omelet breakfasts or Saturday night hamburgers are another weekly idea.

 Some monthly tradition ideas are: Temple date is always wonderful to do at the start of the first Saturday of the month to start the Sunday fast if we were in Utah. We have to go during the weekday here in the Philippines because the temple is too full on Saturdays. 

There is a full moon about every 29 days so implement a tradition of taking a night walk with your family or friends whenever there is a full moon. Have a monthly guys night out to the movies or a girls night out to go get mani-pedis. Have a monthly fondue party where everyone brings their favorite treat to share for dipping in chocolate. Have a monthly game night where you get together to play card games and board games. Daniel is not too fond of games though but I think they are fun. tradition to go bowling with friends or dancing. 

 And perhaps you can think of a few annual traditions to start, such as an annual Olympics where you bring family and/or friends together for a big competitive series of events like the three legged race, etc.  Have a fun trophy that the winning family keeps till next years event where it is up for grabs again.Have an annual traditions to go bowling or dancing with friends and here in the Philippines is a must to do a karaoke night, at least once a year. Have an annual Luau party to kick-off the beginning of summer. Plan an annual family trip as a tradition each year or every other year. This year we think it will be around Father's day. 

I think the most important thing is to start a series of regular traditions that give you something to look forward to on a weekly and monthly basis throughout this upcoming year. When we have something to look forward to it makes life more enjoyable and exciting. And what better time than RIGHT NOW to make a list of the traditions you are going to start now right away?!
 Have a great weekend and start doing those things!

Con amor,
Vero