New Year, hello 2013!

Written January 2, 2013

As I’ve made it pretty clear before, I love my family and enjoy spending as much time as possible with them. Christmas and New Years is usually spent with my family, and although this year Christmas was spent in Panama without my whole family, New Years was a complete family affair – and its awesome.

We usually all go to a country house or beach house and this year was no different, spending 6 days at my aunts farm completely disconnected from the world. For the past 6 or 7 years we have had different New Year traditions and although the past five years New Years is an extra-difficult day and I wasn’t always too keen in taking part of these traditions, I am extremely grateful to have them.

The first of these events I remember was a HUGE fire we made where everyone threw in what they were leaving behind. After my brother died we did little “boats”. I’m going to do a little parenthesis to explain why these little boats: when Cris died his friends father sent us a beautiful letter and flowers. He explained his process after losing his wife and shared with us a short story he had read explaining death:

I am standing on the seashore, A ship sails and spreads her white sails to the morning breeze And starts for the ocean. She is an object of beauty and I stand watching her till at last she fades on the horizon, and someone at my side says “ she is gone”. Gone where? Gone from my sight that is all. She is just as large in the masts, hull and spurs, as she was when I saw her, and just as able to bear her load of living freight to its destination. The diminished size, the total loss of sight is in me not in her, and just at the moment when someone at my side says “She is gone” There are others who are watching her coming, and other voices take up the glad shout. “here she comes.” And that is DYING. -Bishop Brent

After reading this I received somewhat a bit of peace or tranquility and every New Years we light our boats to send them to him, loaded with love.

This year we didn’t have an ocean but we had a lake. So, clearly, one of the traditions was to light our boats and send them off. We did this after midnight, not all of the family went out because of the terrain and the weather it was impossible for my grandparents to make it and my uncle and aunt preferred to stay in as well. However, the rest of us all went out and it was great. It was freezing (literally) and didn’t help my cold but it is one of those little things in life that make me stop and be grateful for being surrounded by the people that make up my family. Yes, we are loud, we are mainly women, there will be moments of susceptibilities but in the end we all stick together.

The other tradition we have started four years ago, and although at first I didn’t even care about them or didn’t even stay up to celebrate the New Year because it was simply too painful, now I enjoy doing them. We all gather on the 31^st in the afternoon and do our Vision Boards, posters where we define what we want and what we will get out of the upcoming year. It’s forces you to really think about the upcoming year and the things you wish to do and obtain during the year. Off course during the year there will be surprises, heck I had NO idea I would spend ¼ of my year in Africa when I did mine last year but it still makes you think about time and life. We gathered up before midnight and everyone explained their vision board, I believe being able to say these things surrounded by people that love and support you will make them easier to accomplish, its always easier when people know what your plans are and can give you a little nudge or reminder when times are hard.

Doing these family rituals during New Years might seem boring to many, I have never ever celebrated New Years in some big party and don’t really yearn it. I like spending the holiday days with my family, there is no where else I rather be than surrounded by them and even though arguments might arise and everything isn’t perfect all the time I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Vision boards

Burning what we want to leave behind

With yellow underwear and my bagpack to welcome 2013, this year im traveling!

Going down to the lake...it was cold!