Humbug & Resolutions!

Christmas for my family was a blast.  The nieces, grands, and just family in general were a blast to be around.  While around the world, it seemed like people were being forced to be apart, my family drew together.  It wasn’t in defiance, as so many may think.  It’s just that we’re always in one another’s pockets anyway.  We visit one another at least once a week and miss each other if we don’t get a chance to pop in at least once.  It’s not about social distance or thumbing our nose at the establishment; it’s about love and being emotionally healthy.  So, with precaution, we braved the beast: we call, interact, and offer our love and support to one another.  And because we do this all year long anyway, we decided it would be safe enough to love, laugh, and simply enjoy each other’s company on one of the most important holidays to the Matriarch of our family.

My mother is like a child during Christmas.  For many years, we had to hide the presence from her, and still, she would shake and play guessing games.  This year was a little different.  She tried to trick me into telling her what I bought for her.  I would nonchalantly mention that I received her gift in the mail, and she would oh, so casually say, “So, what’d you get me?”  I would chuckle and just as casually reply, “You know, I can’t quite remember.”

The humbug part comes in when we talk about Amazon’s interesting shipping system this year.  Stuff was lost.  Things didn’t come in on time, and let’s not even talk about getting the wrong damn item.  I was so disgusted, but I was polite when I called them because it was pointless to yell at the poor hapless customer service representative who had nothing to do with the packing and shipping of not only the wrong item, but the incorrect quantity, ugh.  I had to reorder a few things and return others.  It was annoying until I found out about my sister’s issues.  She didn’t get anyone’s gifts by Christmas.  My mother was cool with it, but my sister was close to tears.  To say the least, it was an interesting Christmas with the kids playing with their toys, the baby crying for his mother’s milk, and my sister a little off emotionally due to not being able to give as she wanted.  Humbug, indeed…

As the New Year came in, no one can imagine how many emails, texts, and push notifications I received concerning New Year’s Resolutions.  I wanted to throw my iPhone and iPad out the window.  I am more of a planner now, but the idea of making New Year’s resolutions made me want to scream.  I have never been a fan of them, and rarely make them.  Over the years, I have seen people make them and fail to achieve them.  I find them a fruitless endeavor; however, I recently read somewhere that making New Year’s resolutions are helpful and fruitful for more than 95% of the people who make them.  Please don’t ask me where.  I’m always reading something interesting and educational.  The thing is that I’ve never met this mysterious 95% of people from this study.  I haven’t even met 1%.  So, I’m wondering where they are and how they make something that I’ve never seen work, work for them.  interesting…

This year, I decided to create my own little world of goals and objectives.  Regardless of who we are and how we put it all together, we are ready to make new starts with the beginning of a year.  Changes are inevitable whether we are a part of them or not.  Why not have a piece of the changing pie.  So, I didn’t do the usual.  I know damn well; I’m probably not going to lose weight.  The truth is I’m not really interested in losing all that much anyway.  I just want to be comfortable again, so losing weight didn’t appear anywhere on my goal list.  I’ve never been a beauty queen; I’m not going to start in my middle-age years.  So, I chose something that I not only want to accomplish, but that is more intimate a part of me and that’s just a little scarier than being obese.  Well, at least it is for me.

I actually enjoyed my goal planning this year, and I have a plan that I feel will be obtainable.  My major goals for this year include publishing 3 books this year, writing two novels, and upping my blogging game.  I have this meticulous document with dates and all kinds of stuff, but I’m excited about it and already started on making it all happen.  Wish me luck.

Good luck to you on your resolutions, goals, or what you’ve decided to call it.  Let’s all be proud that we have aspirations, intend to work toward them, and be happy with what we’ve achieved in the process.  Please share your goals and a few of your objectives to achieve them in the comments.  I’d love to hear from you.

Happy New Year! Stay well! & Keep creating!

CSA