How New Year’s has become my second Christmas

How New Year’s has become my second Christmas...

But not how you’re probably thinking.

No, it is not a second major day of gifting and eating turkey with cranberry.

In fact, while Christmas Day is one filled with the receiving of trinkets,

eating a large amount (including sweets)

and sitting around in front of the TV with family...

New Year’s for me is almost completely the opposite.

For me, the first day of the New Year is about launching into a new trend

Of health and discipline.

That is not unique; many people take January 1^st as their official day

To start going to the gym, go on a diet or at the very least

Clean the house after all of the holiday craziness.

For me, it’s more than that.

It’s also about vision.

My faith plays a huge role in it.

And planning goes into it,

Almost as much as what goes into Christmas shopping,

decorating and wrapping.

Ever since 2017, January 2^nd has marked the first of 21 days

Of a special diet.

It is a fast, called the “Daniel Fast”.

The participant is supposed to eat the diet that Daniel (from the bible)

Ate while he was going through a period of intense prayer to God.

Mostly, it consists of very plain foods, no meats or animal products,

And no unnecessary sugars or starches.

On that first year, I actually went full vegan.

It was very difficult.

The point of the fast is to also dedicate a decent amount of time to prayer.

“Pray without ceasing” the bible says.

That I do, inside my head.

But this is different.

This is about taking time to sit down

and put aside all the other projects and pray aloud,

asking God for specific things pertaining to the year ahead.

I don’t actually remember what the topics were for my first year.

The fast concluded just a week before entering a very dark place

In my life and my marriage.

(I still don’t really understand that part)

In 2018 I failed halfway through,

because I discovered I was pregnant.

This year, I didn’t do as strenuous of a diet

and I made it through.

In 2020 I plan to just be vegetarian for the three weeks.

The diet and the prayers both take planning.

I dedicate a portion of January 1^st to said planning,

also shopping for food and cooking.

This is one way that New Year’s is a little like Christmas.

Another belief I firmly stand by is

the ceremonious treatment of NYD as a representation

of the entire year to come.

What do I want the year to represent?

What do I want the themes to be?

The day should reflect it, if not be a small sample of it.

If I want the year to be about health,

I will make time for some fitness in the day

And also eat cleanly.

If I want the year to be about faith,

I’ll spend time reading the bible, praying

and organizing my Christian lifestyle books and journals

For easier access later on.

If I want the year to be about my marriage,

I will encourage my husband to spend time having lunch

And going for a walk with me during that day

And will put extra effort into intimate time that evening.

I’ve held onto that belief since childhood,

So very rarely have I ever spent a January 1^st

Loafing around the house or hanging over from

too much partying the night before.

(I think the ONLY one I spent that way was 2012,

due to having partied a little too much as a side effect

of going through a temporary break

from my then-boyfriend)

You may be asking yourself

Why not do all of those things ALL YEAR?

Exercise all year.

Read the bible all year.

Spend intimate time with my husband all year.

....Well I do.

But I try to set myself into the pattern by starting

On the first day.

So how does all this circle back to New Year’s being another Christmas?

It’s the anticipation.

The excitement for what’s to come.

It’s a little like the anticipation that comes with the weeks

Leading up to Christmas.

The euphoric feelings that come with knowing there are gifts

For you under the tree and that they may be something

You’ve wanted for awhile-

Plus the warm and fuzzy emotions that bubble up

As you find something you know your loved one will treasure,

Bring it home, wrap it,

Then witness their expressions of joy as they open it.

New Year’s is a fresh start.

As it is quoted so famously in Forrest Gump

“Everybody gets a second chance”.

So even if you tried your best and everything went wrong

In the present year,

You get a new chance in the next one

To this time get it right.

Now in my early 30’s, I’m at a place

Where I get some glee from thinking about

A new opportunity to better myself and my life

and the healthy outcomes that will result from it.

It’s like opening a present that I got for myself

By working really, really hard to earn it.

That’s why it’s “second Christmas”.

It’s the warm fuzzy feelings of anticipation.

What will I unbox in 2020?

Just because I love lists,

Here are some things I sought after in the past three years:

·      Better health from a better diet and more exercise (all years)

·      More time spent on growing in faith (all years)

·      Repair for my marriage (2018, after rough patch in 2017)

·      A new job  (2018)

·      A new car  (2018)

·      Financial healing (2018, 2019)

·      A new larger home (2018, 2019, still waiting)

·      New friends, truer friends (2018, 2019)

These are not ALL of the things, but some of the biggest.

Most have been achieved.

One was a prayer that was answered in a most life-changing way.

“Repair for my marriage”

Would be a process for me through the year,

But started as a very fervent prayer during early 2018’s Daniel Fast.

I thought God’s answer would involve

People from church reaching out to us

and possibly some sort of marriage retreat.

I could not have been more wrong.

We were brought closer together and given some healing through...

...The surprise arrival of a baby.

I never would have thought a child would heal us,

Nor had I ever asked for one.

The possibilities are endless for each new year,

And the ways that God works in them,

If I ask him to, if I allow Him,

Are amazing.

I’m looking forward to 2020 and all He can do.

But also all I can do to be better, reinvented, more whole.

My vision will be 2020.