Enjoying the New Year

Another year gone and a new one on the horizon. I love fresh starts, and all the possibilities that dreams and goals for the future bring. My friend Erin inspired me a few days ago with a blog post about her word for the year. Her "forging" ahead was inspired by another writer who talks about forgoing resolutions in favor of choosing a single word as a focus for change. I like this idea quite a bit and I've been thinking about it for days. So many words....so many directions to grow....how to choose just one? 

I thought I had my word for the year with "Enjoy" but then I remembered there's already a Northern California lifestyle magazine with that name. In fact, I had been thinking that I would enjoy writing for "Enjoy" in the New Year, so maybe I need another word of my own. 

So, being a geeky word type who also dislikes stealing other people's thunder, I hit thesaurus.com where I spent a good amount of time getting lost in synonyms. Then I wasted a bunch more time researched even further going in all kinds of directions, perusing random vocabulary sites in my search for the perfect word to inspire me into 2011. Relish? Savor? Revelry? Treasure? Celebrate? Merriment? Luxuriate? Laugh? Abundance? I got completely sidetracked and was on to words like "chortle" and "cackle," the latter of which has actually been used to describe my merriment, but I don't think that makes it a word to live by. Maybe"patience" (or maybe I should be realistic.) "Love" is a good one, and so is "Blessings." So many words, I may have to get back to you....

For now, I still really like "enjoy" as it covers a lot of bases, and it truly does sum up how I'd like to live. Maybe I'll keep it as my word for the year- I'm OK with choosing to enjoy my New Year, even if I'm not the only one using the word. It's a great word after all. I'm hoping the magazine folks won't mind either, and as long as I leave "magazine" out of my "enjoy," I don't think I'll be violating any copyright laws either.

In any case, I felt blessed and happy as I luxuriated in eating, drinking and being merry during a mellow, but happy New Years Eve with people I enjoy.We laughed, (I may have even cackled) played family games and watched movies, and eventually watched the festivities in New York on TV.

The highlight of our festivities was about 20 minutes to midnight when I went out to get yet more firewood to keep us from freezing before morning, and surprisingly, it was SNOWING. I ran in to get the kids who immediately ran outside and shrieked with joy. They ran back in shortly when they realized they had forgotten to bundle up and they were freezing. Layers of clothing were added and back out they went to dance and celebrate the magical midnight snow. The made another run out to bang pots and pans a little after midnight just in case anyone in the county had managed to not hear the revelry the first two times. It was a very happy way to ring in a new year.

The snow lasted till morning. It wasn't quite enough to sled by, but the kids tried anyway. The may be a tad bruised, but they are young and full of resilience. Hey- that's another good word- "resilience." I can't wait to hear what the kids come up with as their word for 2011.  Girl Child is leaning towards "fun."

I wish you all blessings, and hope you Enjoy the New Year!