‘Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.’

It’s almost New Year’s Eve again! Can you believe it? Christmas is past and another year has come and gone. How the time flies! I can’t believe how quickly these years seem to be passing with our little ones.

I’m trying to cherish the memories we’re making, while also including the traditions we keep. ‘For auld lang syne’ means for old times sake. There’s nothing quite like celebrating New Year’s traditions together, for old times sake. We gather together with our loved ones to recall the blessings of the past year, and share our dreams for the future. And we have a whole new year ahead to look forward to. As Anne Shirley says, this new year is ‘fresh with no mistakes in it yet’!

Another heartwarming thought is that, while holidays around the world vary, New Years is celebrated by cultures throughout the world. How exciting to be part of a celebration that’s happening around the globe! Here’s our celebration plan.

New Year’s Eve:

-Food:

• Dinner: We all have a fondness for Indian food. I’ve heard others mention such family traditions as having Chinese takeout on Christmas Eve. Well, in our family we have Indian food, complete with mango lassis, on New Year’s Eve. We don’t treat ourselves to take out very often, so it’s something everyone looks forward to, plus it’s a break for me. What a great way to start the new year!?
• Dessert: We make sparkling jello jigglers! The recipe is so simple and the boys have fun making them. They also think the jigglers are hilarious. (They’re giggling while eating their jigglers!)
• Drink: We toast the new year with sparkling grape!

–Fun:

• Games: To pass the time until midnight, we bring out our favorite boardgames, card games, and puzzles. We get a new boardgame every Christmas. This year, it was Harry Potter Clue! We haven’t had the chance to open it yet, so it’s the first game on our list.
• Good Riddance Bonfire: Each person writes down any regrets they’d like to forget from the past year. Dad builds a fire in the fire pit. Then, each person takes a turn throwing their paper into the fire, starting the new year afresh! It helps children to see how we can all put the past behind us and have renewed hope for the future. (Of course, the boys want s’mores whenever we have a bonfire, so out come the sticks and marshmallows.)
• Sparklers: After the bonfire, we light sparklers left over from Fourth of July celebrations. We wright our names in the air and watch our sparklers shine as they slowly burn down.
• Movie Time: When the little ones start to slow down, (or mama begins to slow down, lol) out come the whirley pop, the popcorn bowl, and a family movie. We grab our popcorn, hot coco, and other goodies. Then, we settle in for a movie.
• Happy New Year: For those still awake after the movie, we of course find our plastic wine glasses (for the little ones). After the big countdown, it’s all hugs and toasts of Happy New Year!

New Year’s Day:

–Food: Our New Year’s Day food varies year by year. We’re still trying to decide what to serve this year. But there are three things we always include on the menu:

• Black Eyed Peas: Black eyed peas are a must on New Year’s Day! I usually make hoppin’ John, but this year I’m trying black-eyed pea salsa with blue corn chips.
• Wassail: I’m not sure how this began, but we serve hot wassail on New Year’s Day almost every year. We are going to try a new crockpot wassail recipe this year though. It sounds delicious!
• Old Fashion Gingerbread with Whipped Cream: We’ve used the same gingerbread recipe for years, and it consistently turns out well! (I love that the fresh whipped cream calls for pure maple syrup instead of sugar.)

-Fun:

• New Year’s Resolutions: On New Year’s Day, we write down New Year’s resolutions. (I tuck them away in our family binder so we can review them the following year.)
• New Year’s Resolution Game: We’ve played this game for several years. It’s fun and a nice way to start interesting conversations! After writing our New Year’s resolutions down on paper, we take turns guessing who the resolution belongs to. I just came across these fun New Year’s Resolution card printables , and we’re going to try them this year. We’re going to print this  ‘fortune teller‘ for the kids as well!
• Interview: I would like to do an interview with each family member on the first day of each year but do not always accomplish this goal. I’m determined to get it done this year! I like these questions and plan to make a video of the boy’s answers for them to enjoy in the future.
• Prayers for the Coming Year: We take time on New Year’s Day to write down prayer requests for the coming year. These also go into our family binder. And we review our prayers from the previous year. Last year, I’d written down ‘buy our first home’, and that prayer was answered! We then give thanks for the blessings of this year. Finally, we take a moment to review our family mission statement, which we also keep in our family binder.

With three little ones, there are usually a few detours along the way, but this is what we have planned.

What are your plans? Do you have any special traditions? Are you trying anything new this year? 

Thanks for reading!