New Year, New Promises

It's been years since I've made New Year's Resolutions because I hate to disappoint myself, I have always made all these wonderful promises to myself and then I end up breaking every single one of them.
But this year I'll give it one more try:

1. Instead of sitting at the computer so much, I'm going to try and exercise more, and I'm going to try and spend more time on my prayer journals.

2. I'm going to try and tackle projects around the house, both big and small.

3. And something I learned from Teresa @ Mysterri2me2 that I thought was a wonderful idea was trying to eat healthy one meal at a time.

4. I'm also going to try and continue with an earlier resolution of simplifying my life and purging it (and my home) of needless clutter. And I'm going to reinforce my commitment to less shopping and limit acquiring new things and try to make do with what I already have which goes along with trying to simplify.

5. I found a few websites that suggested some practical resolutions and also ways to obtain your goals and maintain those resolutions, and one of them was to remember to take the full year to accomplish some of the resolutions. Don't put pressure on yourself, the goal is to enact the resolution within the twelve month period.

6. Another practical resolution was resolving not to get discouraged by setbacks (both in failing to keep resolutions and in life in general), treat a setback as just that, a temporary setback and not a permanent failure.

7. Also, this last resolution is something I already put into practice this Season, and that is eliminating dreaded 'holiday tasks' and do only those you enjoy and have time for. And there were practical solutions such as ordering pre-cooked meals if you hate cooking, buy baked goods if you don't have the time to bake them yourself, use a gift-wrap service if that is a task you dread, and get pre-printed Christmas cards if you feel that writing out cards is too time-consuming. Don't go all out decorating if you don't have the time, and resolve that you will enjoy the little that does get decorated and you will give yourself a pat on the back for the things that do get done instead of berating yourself over the things left undone. There's always next year, and maybe you can concentrate on different tasks to be accomplished each year rather than putting the pressure on yourself to get 'everything' done each and every year.

This year for Christmas Eve I made a simple lasagna and microwaved some vegetables and set up in the kitchen for a serve-yourself style meal rather than plan a big sit-down dinner. And my son contributed a bag of salad, and we were good to go! Everyone enjoyed it and it wasn't much work or prep at all, and the lasagna was something that could be made ahead of time, my daughter popped it in the oven while some of us were at Mass and it was almost ready to come out of the oven by the time we got home.
Christmas Day I just made a turkey dinner and a Birthday cake for Jesus, the kids provided the rest of the desserts and it was a very relaxing day.
I also didn't decorate as much as usual this year, and to tell the truth, I didn't really miss the 'extras' at all. My daughter and I didn't do our usual 'cookie bake' this year either, but my niece did and so did my son, so my cookies weren't missed at all.
I didn't make myself crazy about entertaining either. I used a lot of disposable trays, plastic utensils, and Chinette plates, much like I do for the pool parties, and there were many foods that I just served right out of the containers they were purchased in rather than transfer them to 'pretty' serving bowls, so clean up wasn't too bad. It certainly wasn't a beautiful tablescape but nobody complained and it didn't make the food any less desirable and it didn't have an adverse effect on the flavor.
We didn't go overboard shopping this year either, so there wasn't much to wrap. What used to be a marathon session of wrapping gifts was relegated to my husband and he got it done in about an hour.
I have to say that I really enjoyed Christmas this year and I didn't feel the usual pressure of the holidays that I normally feel. I kept the traditions I enjoy and I eliminated those that take away the pleasure of the Season.

I can't remember ever keeping any New Year's Resolutions in the past, so we'll see how well I do this year.

The experts say to be patient with resolutions, it is said that it takes three weeks for something to become a habit and six months before it becomes part of your lifestyle.

Good luck to those who are making New Year's resolutions! And I'd love to hear what they are!