Waving Goodbye, Saying Hello

Christmas is a time that's rich with traditions, but is New Years?

I didn't think it was for us; after all, we don't eat black-eyed peas every year on that day, and we don't go to any First Night celebrations to ring in the New Year, and we don't sit down as a family to make resolutions.  No, all of these things--and more--that I hear about my friends doing are not a part of our New Years.

But then I thought further and realized that, without even trying, we are creating traditions that surround the closing of one year and the opening of the next.  Traditions like...

...the 5K race in our city.  Jeff and Josiah did it for the first time last year, and this year Josiah ran it alone.  (Due to the somewhat extensive recovery time needed by Jeff after the race, he wisely decided to not participate in it this year.)  ;-)  If all goes well, I foresee both Josiah and David running in it next year.  I wish I could foresee myself running in it next year, too, but I can't quite picture that.  ;-)

Here was our favorite runner this year...

...as well as his most enthusiastic supporters.  :)

The race begins...

...and Josiah runs past with a big smile on his face.  :)

It was COLD that day, but it didn't seem to bother Josiah.  The rest of the children and I stayed warm by going back and forth to different vantage spots on the course so we could get glimpses of Josiah as he went past and cheer him on.  As long as we kept moving, the cold didn't bother us too much.  I had wondered, in particular, how Moriah would cope with it; but we had her wrapped up in her big, puffy, soft, cozy snowsuit, and she didn't fuss at all but was perfectly content to watch all that was going on around her!

Josiah finished the race in 32 minutes, 25 seconds, which is almost exactly his time from last year.

You know the most amazing thing to me?  He doesn't really prepare for the race.  He doesn't do any special training or follow any plan for exercise in the days before a race.  He is quite active in regular life--seems like he and the other boys are always running and chasing each other and jumping around and even riding bikes/scooters/tricycles in the house.  Then on the day of the race, he just gets out there and runs it like it's no big deal!  He told me that he did stop running to walk a little bit a couple of times during the race, but I didn't give him too hard of a time about that.  ;-)

So, that's one New Years tradition that we seem to be falling into, but there are more.  For example...

The older boys and I always stay up until midnight; and while the hours tick toward the big countdown, we keep ourselves awake by playing games.  This year, Castle Risk was the big game of the night (after we came in from a perfect evening of sledding).  Last year, I particularly remember playing Skip-Bo (among other games).

Jeff always falls asleep on the couch for part of the evening, then wakes up to be with us at least by midnight, if not earlier.

When midnight arrives, Josiah and David go outside to bang pots and pans and Jeff lights off a few firecrackers or other fireworks.

We hug each other and tell each other "Happy new year!" before Josiah and David go to bed--and VERY quickly fall asleep.  :)

So those are some more traditions.  But there's one other item that has become deeply ingrained in our first day of the year: a Harmonia Sacra singing.  For me, that means being a part of a glorious evening of music, rich with tradition (111 years worth of tradition) and deep spiritual insight (the words of the hymns, if you take the time to ponder them, are not only beautiful but also profound).  It means an opportunity for me to be called upon to lead one of the songs, which is a pleasure and a privilege.  It means smiling as I watch the young Mennonite men as they watch the rows of pink-cheeked, prayer-covering-crowned, homemade-dress-wearing young ladies, lovely in their wholesomeness and youth.  It means greeting and being greeted by friendly faces, some of whom I only see once a year (and some of whom know me more because of who my parents are--and my grandparents were!--than who I am..."Your granddaddy delivered me" and "We sure do miss your dad since he retired" are comments I might hear there).  But most of all, it's the music.  It moves me.

Meanwhile, somebody's got to stay home and take care of the little ones; and Jeff unselfishly agrees to do so every year.  I didn't want to take it for granted that he would do that again, so this year I suggested to him that maybe I should stay home and not go to the singing; but he kindly urged me to go, saying that he would get along just fine with Tobin, Shav, and Moriah at home.

I suppose they did get along just fine, because when I got home, this is what I saw on Facebook...  :)

Jeff had written this:  Davene took the older 2 to Harmonia Sacra tonight and left me with the younger 3 and a mountain of dishes. I told Moriah we had a lot of work to do, and she jumped right in to help!

Oh, Jeff!  It's not the first time he's come up with a rather creative way to bathe a child.  ;-)

I like this pattern we've fallen into of bidding farewell to one year with a race...and welcoming the next with a song!   :)