Need a last minute idea to end the year with a bang and to start the New Year fresh? Use the following tips to start your own family tradition.
So often, New Year's Eve has connotations of over 21 partying, but there are many families that would love to create a meaningful tradition to ring out the old year and ring in the new. Try these great ideas to instill family traditions in your own New Year's celebration.
- Create a special menu that is specific to this celebration. It doesn't matter what your menu is, as long as you only serve it on this annual night. Our family's New Year's Eve menu is a wonderful fondue trio -- we start with a Swiss Cheese Fondue appetizer, move on to an oil-based fried fondue of beef, chicken, shrimp and vegetables in a variety of dipping sauces, and conclude with a decadent Chocolate Fondue. We only create this meal on New Year's Eve, so the whole family looks forward to it.
- Reflect on the past year. This can be achieved during the meal in a casual manner, or you can create an annual questionnaire that can provide much entertainment. Our family questionnaire includes questions pertaining to the superlatives of the year --- the best, worst, most proud, most difficult, most embarrassing, etc. memories of the year. We each complete the 2 page form as the dishes are being cleared, and then we take turns sharing our answers with one another. Inevitably, we experience both hilarious and tender memories in the course of the evening.
- Set resolutions for the coming year. Our family form also asks for resolutions for the upcoming year. These can be silly or empowering --- or a combination of the two.
- Review past resolutions. We collect our family forms from prior years and evaluate how we've changed. Inevitably, it's interesting to see how our lives have diverged from what we had predicted, and how seemingly critical issues are no longer important.
- Borrow a tradition from another culture. The Chinese have a wonderful tradition of writing their worries on slips of paper and then throwing the papers into a blazing fire. This ritual metaphorically releases the person from his/her worries. We have used this tradition several times, when our family was enduring a particularly difficult situation --- family illness or tragedy, etc. --- and we've loved the sense of freedom it gives. For this ritual, we usually do not share our written words with the rest of the group, as often times the worries pertain to other family members.
- Start your own tradition. Reinvent your own New Year's holiday. It doesn't matter what your tradition is --- banging on pots and pans at midnight, a night of health and wellness, eating black eye peas --- as long as you keep it sacred for your family. You don't have to be caught up in the traditional drinking and dancing countdown parties that the media always promotes. Do what is right and relevant for yourself and your family and ENJOY!
The copyright of the article New Year's Resolutions in Entertaining is owned by Janice Benoit. Permission to republish New Year's Resolutions in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
