Daily ritual

There are several warm and comforting homemade year-end customs the family can enjoy for a festive New Year's celebration. Let's begin with the tradition of an annual New Year's eve good riddance party.

In the late afternoon on New Year's eve, everyone gathers together for a festive  and substantial tea party (which stands in for supper), and our family celebration begins, complete with paper hats, horns, streamers, and confetti. Does it matter that we are celebrating seven hours early? No, it makes sense. No mother ever voluntarily chose to be awake with her children at the midnight hour. Nor should you.

However, before we can welcome in the New Year, we ought to put the old year's unfinished business- mistakes, regrets, shortcomings, and disappointments behind us. Here's how: Have each family member write down whatever it is he or she wishes to forget, then place the small slips of paper in a shoebox. While it is not required to reveal what is written down, this is the perfect opportunity for past hurts to be forgiven and hearts to be mended. Often it is difficult for us to share our feelings of regret, or ask forgiveness of family members. The New Year's eve tradition gently provides the way to do so.

Next, with ceremony, we wrap the box with black paper, sealing in the sorrow. While we hold hands and say "Good Riddance" the box is placed into the fireplace to burn away the past. Everyone can then begin the New Year with joyous anticipation and a clean slate.

The restorative tradition grew out of a need to demonstrate to the children in a tangible way that we can put the past behind us and go forward with renewed hopes. If you do not have a fireplace, why not simply bury the past in the backyard, or just throw the box away? This New Year's tradition will please all family members. A ceremony of renewal, it provides much solace as well as positive memories.

Now it is time to celebrate. Surely the past year was not just filled with disappointment, but much good. How to show the family? We go to our Bible and take out our prayer list, written last New Year's Eve. Look how many of our prayers were answered! We have truly been blessed. Keeping and annual prayer list
is a marvelous way to demonstrate to our children the power of faith and the miracle of answered prayer. Our prayer requests are then sealed in an envelope and placed in the family Bible until next New Year's Eve.

Happy New Year!!