A New Year on the Horizon

Happy New Year!

Christmas was wonderful but as usual it rushed in and slipped away too quickly. I love Christmas, celebrating our Savior's birth, special time spent with family and friends, the music, the food, the decorating both inside and out. I could go on but you get the idea.

Now here we are, on the other side of Christmas and in an effort to stay organized I'm at my computer creating schedules for when we start up school next week. Boooorrrrriiinnng!!! I really dislike creating schedules (I'm doing three week's worth, that's nine schedules total) but I love how they help the children and I to accomplish our goals. It helps us stay on track. But here I am, procrastinating and blogging instead of scheduling!

We're heading out to Wausau tomorrow to drop off the eldest daughter at my brother and sister-in-law's home for the rest of the week. They will bring her home when they come here for the Vikings-Giant football game on Sunday. The rest of our family will be up north at our cabin to ring in the new year. We're snowmobiling, snowshoeing, maybe cross country skiing and hanging out. I may even get a chance to work a jigsaw puzzle. That is one of my favorite hobbies but I usually only allow myself to work on puzzles at the cabin because I am lousy at getting anything else done when I'm in the middle of a jigsaw puzzle!

I was disappointed when my laptop computer died right before Christmas but excited to receive a new one from my dear husband as a Christmas gift. I'd picked it out so there wasn't really an element of surprise but I was excited all the same. Sadly, it began acting up on Christmas day and I had to return it today. They did not have the same model in stock and so I have to wait for a replacement to be sent to Best Buy. Hopefully it will be in by next week. My computer guy tells me it is really unusual to have two laptops fail like that, back to back. Huh. Small consolation! In the meantime, I'm using our upstairs PC and have cut way back on my time on the computer. Maybe that's a good thing since I've been saying I wanted to limit my time online.

In reflecting on my non-shopping status over the holiday season, I have to be honest and say that I didn't have the success that I had hoped for. However, if I can let go of my perfectionistic tendencies for a moment I will add that I spent less than I normally would have. Does that count for anything? Of course it does, silly! Life isn't about perfection. Only a fool (like me, heh heh) would strive to achieve it in this life anyway. It's a journey and I'm grateful that Jesus walks it with me.

If I'm serious about not shopping I think I need to work harder at staying out of the stores. It seems we always need/want something and so I find myself in the grocery store, Target, Fleet Farm, etc. where I am surrounded by temptation! Maybe that will be my new year's resolution: Just say no to shopping! Actually, I don't have a resolution yet. I'll think about it and get back to you on what I come up with...