Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

I have three birthdays in December, and keeping up with all those birthdays, definitely took a toll on our excitement about Christmas. We had decided back in October to focus on used or homemade gifts for Christmas, in an effort to create less junk, and save money for things that we value, and although that worked out really well, the entire holiday just seemed a little less exciting to me this year. 

Hopefully, my children did not catch my lack of Christmas spirit. We played lots of Christmas carols, sang at a convalescent home, baked cookies, and walked by Christmas lights in an effort to make the season bright for our children, and keep their eyes bright with the joy of the season. 

 We also had a fabulous three days at the coast just a week and a half before Christmas, which didn't help with our Christmas prep, but certainly contributed some wonderful relationship building time, which is what Christmas is really about anyway.

 I confess, I am happy that it is over. I feel so excited about setting goals for the new year, and getting back into the wonderful routine of homeschooling and gardening, and mothering my children. 

For the last several years I have posted my goals for the new year here. It has been a really good way to keep me accountable. As I set goals, I pray that my vision would also be aligned with what God wants for me in the coming year.



I have been reading, Becoming Myself, by Stasi Eldridge, and one of the exercises that she has you complete in the book, is to write a list of all your biggest dreams. Sometimes, in the busy years of mothering and homeschooling, we fail to look down the road at the bigger picture. 




Even Sarah Mackenzie, in her talk at the Wild and Free conference in Virginia talked about looking forward twenty years, and dreaming about what you want your children to remember about their homeschool years. Dreaming is an important first step in any goal setting process, if we don't know what the long view is, how can we make daily or monthly goals that make sense?

So this week, as I prepare to make three month goals for the year, I am setting aside time to dream and journal about what  the focus of this next season will be. 

What are your big dreams, and the daily steps you will take to accomplish them?

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