Betwixtmas traditions to finish the year with

A few small traditions that help me put away the old year and prepare for the new one.

It’s the last day of Betwixmas and I’m finally starting to feel ready for the new year. (I hope you are, too!) While I had imagined the Christmas rush would be followed by several days of reading under a blanket on the sofa, eating leftover chocolates and cheese, the reality with three young children was quite different. There were craft sets to assist with, overstimulated little people to soothe, and a lot of toys and rubbish to sort through. Still, we’ve mostly spent the between days in our pyjamas - and we are safe, warm and loved. We are very, very fortunate.

There are a few things I’ve been getting on with while we’ve been mostly at home. Carving out a little time here and there has been made possible by putting a few favourite films on repeat for the girls and letting them eat probably far too much chocolate. (Does anyone else absolutely loathe selection boxes? We seem to have them coming out of our ears!)

Anyway, I have a few small traditions of my own which help me put away the old year and prepare for the new one. They’re here to be borrowed, if you’d like them for yourself - or maybe you have some of your own?

Putting away Christmas things

This is probably my favourite tradition, let me explain. It starts with me putting away the Christmas decorations: I wrap each of them up carefully in pieces of wrapping paper, the leftover fragments with the loveliest designs, and place them inside cardboard boxes. I include any nice things we’ve been gifted that are distinctively Christmassy, like spice scented candles and tea towels embroidered with reindeer. Most recently, I have packed away things for the children that didn’t get used this year or would be enjoyed again next year (festive colouring books, advent calendar toys, Santa hats and so on).

It is a present to myself.

Future me, on the first Sunday of next December, will get to unwrap all manner of treasures with the girls. It makes for such a magical start to the festive season - and takes a little pressure off, too. This year, for example, I halved many of the craft items I bought so that I could tuck some away for next December.

I haven’t actually packed anything away yet this year, so I have no photos to share! I’ve left it quite late because my eldest was shocked when I mentioned taking down the tree. I’ve given her an extra day to adjust to the idea, but we really must get it done before the year is through!

Make a ‘January Blues box’

By this point, if you are anything like me, you’re probably quite done with indulging in rich food and drinks. What I like to do before January comes is create a little box of leftover treats to enjoy later on. The winter months are long, and my mood always dips quite a bit, so it’s nice to have my ‘January blues box’ to dip into when I need it.

This year it has several tiny bottles of alcohol inside, a chocolate orange, a jar of white chocolate biscuits, a bubble bar for the bath and a few other chocolaty bits. My husband has something similar, all things gifted by our lovely family. I will also be putting the children’s chocolate boxes away, to be enjoyed more occasionally in the new year.

Homeschool reflections & planning

This is our third year of officially home educating, and taking time to reflect on and make adjustments to our home learning is something I really enjoy doing. It’s a wonderful feeling, coming into the new year with fresh ideas and new plans (perhaps written on the crisp white pages of a brand new notebook). This really is a post in itself, but in reality homeschool planning looks like researching online, printing and cutting, leafing through text books and making notes in my planner. I’ve come away with a rough idea of the things we’ll be working on between now and Easter, with plenty of flexibility.

Routines, rhythms & habits

Also one for another day, but I’ve taken some time to review our daily and weekly rhythms. I feel hugely privileged as even this time last year keeping to any sort of routine was impossible, sleep times and moods were so unpredictable. We’ve come a long way!

I’ve made some adjustments to our daily rhythm which should help our days flow better, and spent some time thinking about what we might add to our weekly rhythm to ensure that we’re getting out the house and seeing friends enough. Underneath all of this is our winter rhythm, with the things we like to do at this time of year. I’ve also been thinking about how to change some of our bad habits - like too much screen time, and far too much caffeine for me!

Order new books

I’ve placed a couple of orders for new and new-to-us books. I’ll confess that they’re all for the children so far! I’ve bought a few ‘X for every day of the year’ books for the book basket, which is optimistic as I’ve been terrible so far when it comes to committing to a daily reading practise. Perhaps 2024 will be the year! I’ve also bought several dragon related books as this is a new area of interest for my eldest, and one we’re looking forward to exploring together. We’ve already started a chapter book (My Father’s Dragon) and begun leafing through one on Dragonlogy, to my eldest’s excitement. It’s feel great to be starting a new project with her.

I would usually get most of our books from the library but our library app has been down for a few weeks now. As we had a little Christmas gift money to spend, I thought I would indulge.

Buy a new diary

Choosing a new diary or planner used to be one of my favourite things to do at this time of year. Now that I use a specific homeschooling planner, which I run from September to September, I no longer need to shop for something new. To scratch the itch, I’m looking at picking up a menu planning notebook (which I might really help!) or a weekly plans notepad to assist with meal planning.

Make a round dessert

This is a new one. I really love the idea of sharing a ring cake on New Year’s Day, to represent the circular nature of the year. I’ve also read about how some people hide a coin or nut inside, and the person who finds it gets to be king / queen for the rest of the day! They are also said to have good luck for the rest of the year. Forgive me for not knowing the origins of this particular tradition, I think I first read about it in a Waldorf book and found the idea enchanting. It’s an idea that’s stayed with me over the past several years, although the closest I think we’ve gotten is sharing a box of ring doughnuts! That’s the best thing about traditions though: you can pick them up and put them down as it suits your family, and there’s always next year.

Happy New Year for tomorrow!