New Year's Resolutions? Nah...

Granddaughter Ellie under the mistletoe

Happy New Year!

Our family members arrived back on December 21 and stayed until New Year's Eve, allowing us plenty of time to relax together and enjoy each other.  At times there were as many as nine of us in the house.  We simply had fun eating and all being together for the duration.

There were many good times of fellowship spent together around the kitchen table, sharing food, Christmas cookies, and generally catching up with each other.

Christmas eve we spent at our church service, followed by a ride through the local neighborhoods to look at the Christmas lights and decorations.

On Christmas morning we hosted our annual family brunch.  The menu included an amazing blueberry french toast casserole recipe that I may share in a future blog post if somebody twists my arm.

Cutthroat Christmas bingo

It's always fun to watch the grandkids opening their presents, and this year was no exception.  Grandson Jarrod (15 years old) is into electronics and gaming.  Grandtwins Tori and Brianna (7 years old) enjoyed their new western boots.  They look forward to horse riding lessons again in the spring.  Granddaughter Ellie (2 years old) stayed at our home over the holidays and kept things lively at all times.  She was particularly fond of her princess-themed Christmas gifts, including several pairs of princess-y high heels and a princess dress.

And that brings us to the new year.

I've been asked by others if I have made my new year's resolutions yet.

More bingo contestants

Not really.  I don't really make new year's resolutions, per se.  But having said that, I do feel that it is a good thing to periodically look at one's own life and take some sort of accounting.

When I was still teaching at the local college, I would often give my students this loose paraphrase of something Albert Einstein used to say:  "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got."  (His definition of insanity, I believe.)

So therefore, why not take stock of things, and see what redirections or changes would be beneficial?

Ellie "baking" some Christmas cookies.

Here then are some of my own "redirections" for 2014:

1.  Be kinder.

2.  Be a better listener.

3.  Always be on "high alert."  (More on this in a future post.)

4.  Look for ways to be more generous, and be prepared to follow through.

5.  Investigate more options for home and self defense.

6.  Challenge myself more in computer-related skills.

7.  Increase the current rate of household decluttering.

8.  Decrease the frequency of eating out.

9.  Pray more.

10.  Periodically reflect on my redirections, and redirect again, if necessary.

So here's to a happy and healthy new year for all my readers.

May you be abundantly blessed with those things that really matter in 2014.