Did you know that the 12 days of Christmas START on Christmas Day?
I had no idea. Well I didn't until late November, when in my effort to bannish Bah and Humbug from my heart, I did some research which started over at the source of all information. I've been on a quest to find something more meaningful than the trappings of the holiday. I think I may just start with making the Twelve Days of Christmas be our focus. What do you think?
It took me a while but after reading as much as I could, I'd prefer to embrace the concept of LIGHT rather than the idea of (yet more) presents. As we all know, light takes many forms. I thought of literal lights but candles didn't make sense as beautiful as they are, so I settled on the idea of light as knowledge, understanding and hope.
Since this is our first go at this idea, I thought I'd print off these brilliant cards (pictured above) and have each of my kids, along with Louis and myself, write down our thoughts each day. Since it's hard anyone to write free-flow, I'm providing 12 prompts:
01 What was the most important thing I learned this year?
02 What was the most exciting/fun thing I did this past year?
03 What was my greatest accomplishment this year?
04 What do I like best about me?
05 What do I most want to improve about myself over the next year?
06 What was the best book I read this past year? Why?
07 What was my favourite television program to watch?
08 What meal could I eat every day?
09 If I could have only one treat, what would it be?
10 What is the best part of my personality - my gift to the world?
11 What was the hardest thing to master this year?
12 What do I most look forward to doing/seeing/learning next year?
I printed off some journaling cards and wrote on each of them Name: Looking Toward 2011 in the font that my kids like most: Claire gets Cocktail Script, Cole gets Rockwell, Chloe gets Amelie and Caden gets American Typewriter. I know it sounds silly, but these really are "their" fonts. Me? Honey Script. Louis gets Adler.
These will all be collected and stored to be opened on Christmas Day 2011. I think these will be very interesting to read next year, and in years to come!
In our lives there is always so much going on, I like the idea of us all taking some time out of the day to slow down and reflect on what happened over the year. It's also a great chance for me to gauge where my family is at and where they're going and understand the expectations of the year to come!
