Signs of a New Year

I didn't celebrate the turn from 2024 to 2025 with champagne at midnight (or anything at midnight beyond snoozing). I'm not against traditional celebrations. They can be fun--I've been to several different kinds of parties and observations of the new year. 

Yet some rituals of the new year are always available to me, and I find I'm observing and enjoying them.

Paperblanks, ordered from my local bookstore, 
along with a well-loved Filofax Folio.

For example: 

• I’ve pulled out folders and written 2025 on them, moving the 2024 information to the “tax stuff” spot

• Making hard choices from among the plethora of opportunities, I’ve added some events to my calendar for January

• I’m writing in the new nice notebooks 

• We’re seeing Christmas cards in our mailbox, which is nice—since the postal strike ended, we’ve received mostly junk, and that’s not nearly as fun

• I’ve watched (several times a brief video (or several) of someone painting with watercolours

That last one is less about the new year and more about finding something calming and creative to satisfy my senses in light of the ongoing wars around the world, wildfires and other weather disasters ditto, and heinous political crap on this continent. 

Paying attention to rituals and creativity really is not enough. But it’s what I can do.

Here's to finding small celebrations, and renewed creative energy, in the year ahead.