These inspired my first New Year’s Resolution for 2013:
All through this holiday season, life pushed and punched at me to keep me down to earth. My fridge went out, then my back went out after re-arranging house for lack of fridge, and my poor little dachsie hurt her leg. 😦 As always, this chaos that seems to blossom around the holidays reminded me of a few important life lessons. First, as always, is that the biggest Christmas treat of all is simply having all of the family gathered together, healthy and happy, to celebrate and share. We had that on Christmas Day, and it was wonderful. Presents were just icing on the cake, as were the cannoli!
Second, this year has reminded me to enjoy things, and savour things, in the here and now. Not “someday” which never seems to come around, but today. That goes for precious moments with the kids, listening to the stories of Grandparents, using a gorgeous yarn (Pashmina here I come!), and even wearing a killer pair of satin pumps. You see, those lovely red, satin, bejeweled shoes had been purchased for “someday”, when I had a really great party to wear them to with just the right dress. Well, in a moment of inspiration, Christmas seemed to be the day, and hearing that precious little toddler voice cooing “Mommy, those are boootiful shoooes!” was more rewarding than any luxe party could have been. I put on a fancy apron that my Grandmother had made, and which I recently revived, and I was rockin’ the 50’s housewife look. Anne Taintor, you are an inspiration. I felt like a million bucks. The shoes had been sitting carefully wrapped in plastic in my closet for nearly ten years. Putting them on simply because they were pretty and make me happy was a revelation.
In the antique car world, it would be called “glass case syndrome”. It’s when you become overly concerned with protecting things, and not willing to enjoy them. All of my studies and work with antiques and preservation sometimes leaks into my private life as well. I will still treasure some of the true “heirlooms”, and dutifully protect them from harm, but I’ve decided that in the New Year, I’m going to try not to save everything lovely for “some day”. No more “I’ll wear it when I have the perfect occasion” or ” when the kids are grown”.
In addition to enjoying the things I’ve collected and made through the years, I’m going to continue to make time for the people and experiences that often get set aside for very similar reasons. We work to protect our family by earning money to support them, and keeping up with the house and everything else to make their life healthy and happy. Sometimes, those goals don’t connect us directly with those we love, so we have to cut to the heart of the matter and simply spend time with them, even if the laundry needs doing, or that contract needs finishing. For example, I’m going to play in the snow with Lil One, just because she’s so cute, even if I do have a million things to do.
I’m going to listen to my favorite songs in my studio, because Momma likes to rock out and do her own thing. I’m going to call the babysitter just because it’s Tuesday, and I want to hang out with my husband, all by ourselves. I want to add things back in to my life, unconditionally, just because they make me happy. My challenge will be to do this without feeling guilty. We’ll see! So in the midst of all the “needs improvement” resolutions, of which I also made few, I feel this one is key. After all, whats the point of working so hard if you never get to enjoy life? As one of my favorite movies is titled – “You Can’t Take it With You“, so let yourself go and enjoy it right now.
On that note, there’s nothing like kids on Christmas morning to reward a whole year’s worth of hard work:
I hope everyone had a Happy Holiday too, and are ready to take on 2013 with a smile!