I hope you all had fantastic Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. Our house was filled with noise, fun, laughter and some wonderful memories. While it was a really busy time, filled with going here and running there, we took some time to start a few new family traditions and have a lot of fun. In addition to our usual baking (for edible gifts to family and friends) and sorting (to make room for the new stuff) we started a new family tradition this year of Christmas movie marathon in our pajamas. The kids had a blast putting on their jammies at 2 in the afternoon and snuggling up on the couch to watch movies.

For the week before New Year’s Day we talked about our goals for 2008. There were tons of ideas, things that the kids want to do this year, places they want to go, and things they want to accomplish in 2008. We also spent some time reflecting on 2007 and talking about how far we have come both individually and as a family. Once we settled on some specific goals for 2008, both family and individual goals, I took some time and wrote the goals down. Then we went over what we need to do on a daily basis to reach the goals that we mapped out. For example my oldest child wants to finish all of 3rd grade by the middle of 2008. So we went through each subject that she has, counted the number of pages and/or lessons, counted the number of school days, divided the lessons and/or pages by the number of days in order to come up with the daily minimum that she needs to complete in order to reach her goal. She then transferred her daily minimums to her calender so she will know at a glance what she needs to complete daily in order to reach her goal. By allowing the kids to choose their goals and then figure out what we needed to complete daily the kids now own their New Year’s Resolutions.

So what were your resolutions? Save money? Make more money? Get out of debt? Quit Smoking? Lose weight? Get in shape? After several years of trying to meet goals and keep resolutions I have figured out one very important concept-Figure out what needs to be done daily to meet those goals!! The next most important concept is-Set a deadline to reach your goals. If you do not give yourself a deadline and accountability then before you know it Christmas 2008 will be here and you will be nowhere close to what you wanted to achieve this year. This is something that I have struggled with for years however over the last few years not only have I completed my resolutions and stayed on track I have exceeded my goals. Do you want to know more?? Email me and I will share how I successfully handle being a single, home schooling, working from home, and caring for my handicapped mother. It can be done! If I can do it than so can anyone.