Got time to join us for a laugh, friend? (Put the goal-setting pencil aside for a bit.)
I’m in extended holiday mode, so I’m not (quite) ready yet to set new goals, that I won’t achieve anyway.
However, stay tuned tomorrow (or soon) for how to start the year at a sprinter’s pace! (Though we will already be a bit behind because we are beginning our energetic goal setting a day too late!). Dang!
The new year has barely started, and you’re already a loser!
Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
How to catch up and pass everyone else (Or how to at least stay in the race a bit longer) will be discussed tomorrow (or soon)!
“We’re just happy to be here!”
Said Jen and I, to explain why we didn’t want the number of Devil’s Press (NOTICE the name, anyway?) and other exercises recorded that our team completed at the “Competitive-Partner-Get-Fit-Day” at the gym.
Anyway, I hope you also feel encouraged to start your New Year off with a bang of frenzied activity (That you’ll do soon)!
For now, as clearly and thoroughly elaborated in THIS ARTICLE, here is one of our past holiday newsletters to amuse you, while you look around for your pencil today to enthusiastically write out all of your life goals tomorrow!
Now, most homeschooling moms are looking forward to sitting on the couch with a glass of vodka after Christmas.
No, don’t get me wrong! I MEANT a tiny splash of rum in our Christmas eggnog! I am always misunderstood!
But instead of doing that, I wrote this holiday newsletter!
Anyway, it would have been preferable to have one of those lovely family Christmas photos – You know, where everyone is wearing those matching red hats, but who has time to book a photographer, coordinate ridiculously busy schedules, etc.?
This photo (SEE DISCLAIMER!)1 will have to do. We took it tonight, impromptu. Sure, some of us MAY be in costume attire, but this is what we look like. On reflection, elf suits may have been a slight improvement.
In past years, we included memorable quotes from various family members in our New Year / Holiday letters. This year, we include ten quotes on Homeschooling, Aging, and Love. Enjoy!
On Homeschooling
Kyah: “I’ve had a pretty good day so far!” Time: 7:13 am
Andy: After his shower, “Hey! Where was my soap? I couldn’t find it?!!”
Me: “Oh, sorry! Kyah carved it into a turtle and entered it in the fall fair yesterday!”
I mentioned lunch.
Kyah: “Mmm…lunch!”
What she was doing – eating breakfast!
Kyah was having an in-depth Zoom discussion with budding philosophers about the Easter holiday.
Suddenly, a shrill 10-year-old voice from Pennsylvania emanated from the computer, “Well, I think the Easter bunny should go to hell because . . .” An impassioned speech followed. A lot of great learning and critical thinking is in progress!
(She may need a bit more work on theology.)
On Aging
Me: “Where do you want to be in five years?”
Andy: “Where you are…!!!”
Me: (Oh!!)
Kyah: “And I can help you up the stairs!”
Me, thinking: “Will we functionally be 100-year-olds in just five years?”
Andy: “Next June, I will be 50. We should have a massive party.”
Andy remembered that we had a big 1990s party for him when he turned 30. Andy continued, “We can have another 1990s party! We can wear . . . jeans and . . . all the clothes I wear now…” … “and we can listen to … all the music I still listen to now!”
Esther: “I feel so much older now that I am seventeen. It’s a big difference from being sixteen, or fifteen, or fourteen. I don’t know why. Do you think it’s because seventeen has an extra syllable?”
Esther to me: “Whenever I make my hair look like yours, I get compliments. Whenever I wear your clothes, I get compliments.”
Me thinking: “I’m not completely irrelevant, yet!”
On Love
Andy: “I like it when you talk.”
Me: “What??”…(!)
Andy: “Well, most of the time.”
Kyah: “You are the best Mom.”
Me: “Well, thank you, Kyah, but I don’t think that’s true.”
Kyah: “No one is perfect, but you are the best Mom for me.”
And so we may not be perfect, but we are the best people that God put in our lives for each other.
I know that’s true with your family and friends, too!
Happy New Year!
Oh! And I think professional online writers like me are supposed to encourage you, especially on New Years! And so, as this song sings, “. . . make a list and do not make it brief. Write down every single wish and every little thing that you want” (Seriously2?) – Well, good luck with that!
As for me, today I plan on doing a little more skate skiing, enjoying my favorite soup with friends and family, and trying out some of the new board games we received at Christmas.
(And as you write your exhaustive to-do list for the year, remember to keep one ear open to Holy Spirit. You’ll have more luck pursuing the activities God is ushering you into in your next season.) However, to be safe and ensure we are actively setting goals to be like everyone else, we will soon discuss setting not S.M.A.R.T. goals, but S.T.U.P.I.D. goals, to help you even more!
Stay tuned!
You’re welcome!
Good luck!
Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!
Photo Credit – Happy New Year! by Debra Manny Mosley on Unsplash and It’s Us!
1 DISCLAIMER: My family stays mad at me for longer each time I post embarrassing things about them on the internet lately (It’s not like ALL of the five billion people on the internet read every word!). However, to keep them happy, I deleted the photo of my entire family that accompanied this article. They didn’t want the family photo posted SIMPLY because some of them were wearing dress-up clothes, pajamas, or something (I couldn’t keep track of ALL their complaints). Anyway, good thing you like me!
2 My wants (synonymous with needs, in my case) are a giant bucket without a bottom that would completely consume me as well if I focused too much on them! But whatever works for you!
Restoring Life 