5 Post-Christmas Traditions To Start This Year
The gifts have been opened, the cookies baked and the bells jingled. Christmas is over and the New Year is just a week away. What to do now?
Here are five ideas for post-Christmas / pre-New Year traditions to end your year and start the new one off on the right foot.
- Review/reflect on the past year and set goals or a mission plan for next year. Take some time for yourself and review your year. This can be done in one sitting, or as a week long project. There are great, free online options to help guide you through your year in review. Check out this for a workbook and word of the year inspiration, or here for a “year compass.”
Make a “fun” list for the new year. Jot down new book releases or books you’ve wanted to read, movies you’re excited to see, TV shows to watch, recipes you want to try, vacations you’d like to take. You can do this in your calendar/planner or in the calendar/notes app on your phone. If you use a written planner/calendar this is a great time to get your new planner ready. Transfer birthdays, anniversaries, important dates to your nice, new planner. Make that fun list a monthly thing, with one book, movie, show, experience you’d like to have that month.- Want to get out of the house? Hit those post-Christmas sales and use your gift cards. Did you know that Americans have billions of dollars worth of unused gift cards. If you’re an out of sight out of mind kind of person, use the gift card now.
- Spend the time sorting old through your closets and rooms to find clothes, books, toys, etc. that don’t get much love and bringing them to your favorite donation spot. Make it a family event, and have the kids choose things to donate. To keep the clutter down, go with a one in one out system. For every new item/gift you got, find and older one to donate and make space for your new things.
- Treat yourself to a Do Nothing Day. You deserve it; you’ve dealt with the hustle and bustle of the holidays and now it is your turn! Seriously, I did this and it was SO worth it. Send the kids to day care, or camp or grandparents and take the day off of work and do nothing. (If you can’t swing it the week after Christmas plan one for early January when the kids are back in school and fewer people are looking to take days off of work).
Make a “fun” list for the new year. Jot down new book releases or books you’ve wanted to read, movies you’re excited to see, TV shows to watch, recipes you want to try, vacations you’d like to take. You can do this in your calendar/planner or in the calendar/notes app on your phone. If you use a written planner/calendar this is a great time to get your new planner ready. Transfer birthdays, anniversaries, important dates to your nice, new planner. Make that fun list a monthly thing, with one book, movie, show, experience you’d like to have that month.
For me, the post Christmas, pre-New Year week will be spent doing nearly all of these things in one way or another. We’ll also keep our current tradition of watching English soccer all day long on Boxing Day (Dec. 26th), eating leftovers and enjoying the final days of the year before we inevitably fall asleep before midnight on New Year’s Eve.
