Getting Ready for the New Year
Posted by Super Mom No Cape on December 31st, 2012
I know it’s traditional at this time of year to do a recap of the year just passed. And while there were certainly bright spots throughout the year, 2012 is definitely one year that I’m both happy and relieved to be saying goodbye to.
So rather than revisit the old year, I thought I’d share some of the things I’m doing to get ready for the new year.
I have two address books. The larger one, in addition to addresses and phones numbers also has pages where I’ve listed birthdays and anniversaries. The small one lives in my purse. Both of these I’ve had at least ten years, perhaps even longer.
Recently when adding a friend’s new mailing address I noticed that the cover of the little black one was all but falling off. Then as I started flipping through them, I also noticed how many addresses of family and friends have been scratched out and replaced with new addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses. There were various letters of the alphabet where I’d had to use pages from the next letter in the alphabet because the previous one was full of scratched out addresses.
As well, there were sadly, more than a few addresses and phone numbers, birthdays and anniversaries of family and friends who have passed on, some several years ago now.
I decided that I needed to start 2013 with updated address books.
And then there are the things I do on the 31st of December every year.
Today I will:
Balance each of the cheque books one final time for the year.
Do any filing that needs to be done.
Thoroughly clean, straighten and organize the apartment, including washing all the floors.
Change the sheets on the bed so that we start the new year sleeping between clean sheets.
Put out fresh towels in the kitchen and bathroom.
Do any laundry that needs to be done.
Weather permitting… wash the exterior of the car, clean and vacuum the interior.
And just generally do as much as we can to make sure that we start the new year with as clean a slate as possible so that when evening comes, we are ready to celebrate the passing of the old and the ringing in of the new.
Tomorrow I’ll hang this new calendar:
What things do you do to get ready to greet the new year?
I’ve had a mad cleaning sprint, ready to host a new year’s eve party for friends with kids, they’re turning up in 45 mins and I’m still putting stuff in the oven! We have enough food to feed an army!
Happy new year!
Happy New Year Sue & Dave! The tradition in our family is to grab the broom, open all the doors to the Great Canadian outdoors (it’s freaking well snowing here again!), and sweep the old year out of the house, and the New Year into the house. I remember my Mom doing this when I was young, and now both my (adult) kids do it at their homes too! Don’t know whether it does any good or not,,,,but I’m sure not taking the chance to find out! All the best to you both in 2013.
I forgot the rest! On New Year’s Day,,no matter how ugly the humour of anyone around,,,we all have to be pleasant & get along, with no harsh words. My Mom & Dad taught us all the way you spend New Year’s Day is the way you’ll spend the rest of the year (so no fighting!!). Now that I’m all growed up,,,I’m pretty sure this rule had more to do with the remains of my parents’ New Year’s Eve partying and very little to do with any folklore of old! (I might even admit to using it when my kids were wee for that reason!)