I know I’m far from alone when I say how much I love the holiday season. Everything is just a little bit more special and exciting. I love listening to all of the endless Christmas music on channel 100.3 on the radio, I love watching all of the same movies on repeat while I go about my regular weekday activities. Of course we get a nice long break from school and my whole family spends so much time together cooking and eating (duh) and doing all of those little fun things we say we’ll do on the weekends but always seem to be too tired for. This Christmas was just as amazing as ever. We celebrated so many fun long-standing traditions:

-On Christmas eve morning my dad and I got up while it was still dark out, got McDonald’s coffee and got in line at the butcher to pick up our prime rib.

-My Granny and Gramps joined us (it was “our year” on the four year rotation) for Christmas Eve and Christmas day and night for some pretty fabulous meals (if I do say so myself- thanks Ina!).

-My siblings and I all slept in the same room on Christmas eve and fell asleep in front of Elf.

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And some really exciting new events as well;
-My family got together for a lovely and festive evening with my brother’s fiancé and her family.

-My siblings and I got “team gifts” for each other, with three of us teaming up to brainstorm the perfect gift for the other. Admittedly more complicated than we expected, but the gifts were fab.

-Heading down town to spend the night with my dad’s side of the family on the night of the 26th doing essentially, a Detroit bar crawl. The next day, we visited Belle Isle and the Maritime Museum on the island. I particularly loved these two days because they helped fend off the post-holiday blues that I always always feel.

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And now the holidays are over. I get so blue when all of the family time ends- I really have to focus on what I can do to set myself up for a fresh start. I actually hate New Years Eve, but I really enjoy the opportunity to spend the next day or two centering myself and reflecting on the last year and thinking about what I can do to grow as an adult. This year, I know I need to slow down and be more intentional. I graduated from college, started my career, earned my Master’s degree and bought my house all in less than four years. At one point when it was all over, my dad turned to me and said:

“What are you going to do now?”

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I realized that I’ve spread myself too thin over the last few years and am really looking forward to slowing down and focusing on just being a better teacher. “Just being a better teacher” sounds simple, but every year I am learning more and more about how stressful and challenging being a special education teacher is- professionally and emotionally. Thinking about the last year or so I realize that when I start moving too fast, rushing or trying to do too much, of course that’s when I start to make mistakes; the quality of my work suffers. Obviously mistakes happen and they can be a learning experience, but I know that if I can slow down, focus and breathe as I write IEP’s and lessons, create assessments and work with students, I can be a calmer, more productive and higher quality teacher, and I am so looking forward to making that an intention for 2019.

Personally, I am trying to remember to offer more compliments! So many times a compliment that I’d like to give crosses my mind, but I don’t always share because I’m unsure of when it may be “weird” or “dumb”. So in 2019, I aim to share those positive ideas and spread a little more kindness and show a little more love.

A couple of other “resolutions”:

– I started the Couch to 5K running program! When I moved, I moved too far away from my gym for it to make sense for me to keep going there so I’ve been searching for an exercise routine that works for me. I’ve been doing the program for two weeks, and so far I’m a fan.

-Paying attention to my planner; when I was a student I couldn’t have lived without my planner. Maintaining a planner was a system that always worked for me, but when I started teaching it was replaced with a lesson plan book and I kept getting overwhelmed feeling like I had no idea what was going on with my personal calendar. So I’m going back to one of my longest love affairs- keeping a planner. I found a cheap yet pretty one at Homegoods that fits in my handbag and has lots of little spaces to make lists (who doesn’t love making a list??) So far, so good.

So here’s to a beautiful holiday season spent with family and friends, and a fresh start with a clear mind and peaceful heart. Happy 2019!