Penny for Your Thoughts: Traditions and resolutions

By Little G on Friday, January 7, 2011 - 22:45

Happy New Year, Bonne Année, Gelukkig Nieuwjaar, Selamat Tahun Baru, Feliz Ano Novo, Feliz Ano Nuevo, Frohes Neues Jahr, dear EurOut readers.

I hope you all had a great Holiday Season - with or without hangovers, family, snow or maybe sunshine on a sandy beach, board games or movie marathons. I was wondering how many of you celebrate it the traditional way, and if so: please, share your family traditions!

Is there a specific dish you only eat at Christmas dinner, or a very specific breakfast? Do you religiously watch a specific movie? A friend of mine watches movies with her family, and has pizza for dinner. Sounds like a great way to relax!

Maybe circumstances prevent you from celebrating the Holiday Season with your family, and you have started your own traditions. Care to share those? Maybe you shun traditions on personal grounds and you’ve had a wonderful Christmas time anyway. What did you do? A couple of friends of mine took Christmas day to clean up their houses.

The only traditional thing about the Holidays with me is meeting up for nice dinners with the family and/or friends. I’m not Chinese, but I usually have noodles at New Year’s, as they represent longevity and a long life. (Now there’s some symbolism for you, eh.) This year, Lunar New Year commences at February 3rd, and it’s going to be the Year of the Hare - or rabbit. I don’t have any plans yet, but I hope to be celebrating it along with other Asians.

With a new year, many of you make New Year’s resolutions: lose some weight, quit smoking, quit drinking, talk up that cute girl you see riding the bus with you every morning, read more books, spend less time online, learn a new language, come out to your parents, start a family with your significant other, etc.

Truth be told, I don’t have any New Year’s resolutions: I stopped making them a long time ago. Instead, the death of a friend (she died almost a decade ago due to an aggressive kind of leukaemia) inspired me to try something new every year. I found myself dancing to a band shortly after the funeral service, and I felt guilty. I had to remind myself to stop it; she’d want me to enjoy life, and have fun. So instead I danced to mourn over the loss of a dear friend. I’ve tried rock climbing, wind surfing and surfing, golfing, sailing, pottery and even acting (among other things) in the years after.

I know this doesn’t compare to any New Year’s resolution, because it’s a different kind of commitment, but it’s stuck better than any of them: I have yet to miss an opportunity to try something new.

What are your New Year’s resolutions, and what motivates you?