The week between Christmas and the new year is one I rest in unapologetically. I lounge in my pajamas, watch movies, spend unhurried time with my family while I continue to enjoy the leftovers, tired decorations and the magic that still lingers along with the inevitable traces of glitter and ribbon. I resist the urge to clean it all up and simply commit to relaxing and savoring the memories.

I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. I find them self-critical, often wrapped in shame–lose weight, eat better, exercise more, blah, blah, blah. Instead, I want to give myself something different: grace for the year behind me and a dose of hope for the year ahead.

Whether we greet the New Year in a sparkly dress at a crowded party, or at home in our comfy sweats and slippers, we all arrive at the same threshold–pausing to let go of what has been, and to wonder and anticipate what comes next. We are standing at the edge of something new.  Another trip around the sun that we know will be filled with both joy and heartache.

Sometime during the week after Christmas, I want to encourage you to take a moment to pause and reflect on the traditions or rituals your family or heritage honors to mark the new year. If you can’t recall any, a quick google search will enlighten you with New Year’s traditions around the world.

Being of Irish descent, I have always been drawn to their customs–not as relics of the past, but as experiential practices. Like the Irish themselves, they are full of fun and whimsy, with a touch of superstition.

Just before midnight in Ireland, the back door of the house is opened to let the old year out, and at the stroke of midnight, the front door is opened to welcome in the new year.

I also treasure a childhood tradition of banging pots and pans on the porch at midnight. I had no idea then, that this too is an old Irish custom–one meant to scare away any bad spirits and clear the way for a fresh beginning.

I look forward to the more universal traditions as well. Like kissing someone at midnight that you hope to continue to kiss throughout the new year. And of course, the clinking of champagne glasses as we toast to good health and prosperity as Auld Lang Syne drifts across the room and wraps us in nostalgia and gratitude. 

After the party is over, the ball has dropped, the glasses have clinked, I reach not for a list of goals and resolutions but for hope. What do I hope to have more of in 2026? Ken and I have started a tradition of our own that I want to share from the pages of Memories on Mill Creek to be released early in 2026...

“On the first or second day of the new year, we plan a special date, just the two of us. It’s our time to pause and reflect: to celebrate the highlights of the past year, honor the struggles we’ve weathered, and most importantly to look ahead to the future with intention. One of the things we do on this date is choose a word– one word that captures what we want more of in the coming months for our marriage. Let’s call it an Annual Intention. Some of the words we’ve chosen in the past include, adventure, fun, support, celebrate. The word sets an intention that we can return to throughout the year–especially when life gets complicated, and we need to re-center ourselves. We usually write the word down on something that holds the special memory of where we were: a cocktail napkin, a menu, a travel brochure. These little scraps of paper go into a glass jar we keep in our bedroom, to remind us that our love and marriage is always growing and evolving. This ritual has become a meaningful way for us to practice Fierce Hope–not a passive wishing, but an active, forward-thinking way to keep choosing each other, choosing growth, and choosing to be hopeful–year after year.”

As one year gives way to the next, I wish a happy New Year to you and yours. Thank you for stopping here, for reading my Reflections from the Creek, and for sharing this small stretch of the journey with me.

With love from Mill Creek,

Kristi

“May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields, and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.” –An Irish New Years Blessing