Meilleurs Voeux!

That's "best wishes" for you, the French version of "Happy New Year." Christmas cards aren't all that popular over there, but everyone sends cards for the new year. The one on the right made me smile because it's a religeuse, a very popular pastry among French missionaries. A religeuse is a nun, and sister missionaries are soeurs religeuses, so the pastries of the same name always made us giggle. And they're dang tasty.

Anyway, I digress. This post is supposed to be about the new year...

We didn't do anything special to celebrate. We were asleep on the couch by 10, and today we went grocery shopping. Woo hoo! Oh, and we bought Atty a new car seat. It's all plush and luxurious, and Atty seems to like it. So we're happy.

I usually make New Year's resolutions, but they tend to be more stressful than they should be. So I've been thinking about other ways to make goals for this coming year. And as usual I found great ideas on the blogosphere.

My favorite isn't really a resolution, but more of a new perspective: find your superpower. Everyone has one; it's just a matter of discovering it. Like my sister Susan used to say, we are all superheroes in really, really good disguises. And of course every superpower comes with kryptonite, and it's just as important to discover what that is as well. So I've been pondering that off and on.

That blog led me to another thing to ponder: my one little word. What word encompasses my hopes for 2009? My mind tells me it's order, as in "establish a house of order" and do all things "in wisdom and order." But that doesn't feel quite right. For some reason hope keeps coming to mind. I do want to establish order in my life: develop better habits, get rid of clutter, get on top of our finances and meal planning etc. But maybe I really need more hope. I'll have to ponder a little further on that one.

Several other blogs just had lists of things they wanted to do this year. Kind of like Lena's 101 things to do in the next five years, but shorter. It's not a list of resolutions per se, just things you hope/plan to do. I don't have much of a list yet, but I can tell you what I have so far:

1. Put Atty's nursery together. We finally bought a crib, but it was out of stock so we have to wait a couple weeks for it to come in. And I'm going to put together the birdie mobile I made when I was pregnant and hang the artwork I've had for months. And move the rocking chair into his room. It will happen. This month for sure.

2. Go hiking at least once a month in the warmer months. I've always wanted to see the wildflowers at Albion Basin, and I've never been. I'll go this year.

3. Take Atty for more walks. At least once a week.

4. Learn to draw.

That's all I have so far. What are your plans for the new year?