Leave the Old Behind. AND Jump! Into! The! New! Year!

Often, it is the little and simple things in life that give us immense joy and pleasure.  As we grow up, sometimes these simple joys seem to disappear more and more into the background as we get wrapped up in adult pursuits and life itself.

Simple Delights

Remember when you were a child?  You embraced new experiences.  You took delight in the silly, little things.  For example, when it rained, you could not wait to put on your slickers and run outside to jump into the puddles to see how high or how far you could splash out the water.  Now, that was pure joy.

Or how about, the time, when you woke up in the morning and discovered that it had just snowed overnight.  As you peered out of the window, the whole world was covered with a lush blanket of pure, white show. The early morning sun rays cast a sparkle on your world and made everything look so pure, clean, and simple.  

Again, you could not wait to put on your warm show pants, boots, winter coat, Pudelmütze (a knitted woolen pom-pom hat), and warm mittens, and then rush outside to leave your marks in the snow.  A favorite was to take super long steps in the fresh snow away from the house.  Then once a proper distance was achieved, turn around, then with all of your might take a leap and fall backward into the snow.  Then, move your arms and legs up and out, as if making a jumping jack into the show.  The result would be the most beautiful imprint of a snow angel. 

Do you want to know something funny?  The other day right before Christmas, here in the Lesser Antilles, I actually saw similar patterns.  Mind you, it does not snow here, oh no!  However, I spotted the "Angels" in the sand at the beach! It seems that "Snow Birds", which is what they call Canadians who leave Canada during the cold season and head on South to warmer climates, had left their mark in the sand.  This time, rather than Snow Angels, I saw a number of "Sand Angels".  This really made me laugh and smile!

However, back to making real snow angels.  Need I mention, that we would repeat falling backward into the fresh, fluffy show and making the motions of a jumping jack in order to perfect our snow angels?  Soon, all the open spaces of our whole neighborhood were decorated with them, to the delight of our neighbors young and old.

An elderly couple who lived a few houses down from us, who took special delight in our snow angels.  They would invite us into their home to dry off and warm up with some hot chocolate and homemade cookies.  They confided in us that they too would make snow angels when they were children.  The couple themselves had passed along this tradition to their own son, who had enthusiastically embraced it.  Sadly, their son had been killed in the war.  The freshly made snow angels we had made brought back the happy memories they had shared with their son.

It was this lovely couple, who then encouraged us to carry on another tradition they had shared with their son.  Namely, it was a way to close out the old year and start the new one in 3 steps.  We promised to carry on this lovely tradition and have shared it with our family, friends, and acquaintances. 

THE THREE STEPS to Leave Your Cares Behind AND Jump into the New Year

To accomplish this feat, everyone in your group or family has to find a chair, stepping stool, an old telephone book (remember those?!), the bottom step of a staircase, a brick, or a similar elevated item.

• Step 1 – Climb up onto the chair (or similar) with both feet and leave all the sad and unhappy experiences of the past behind you on the ground!
• Step 2 – Remain on the chair (or similar) as you count down to the New Year and remember all the beautiful experiences of the past and bring them along to the New Year.  (see my post Stay Positive)
• Step 3 – At the count of ZERO, carefully take a giant leap back down to the ground to embrace all the wonderful and new experiences that the New Year will bring.

You may think this is a silly way to start the New Year.  However, I hope it will bring out the child in you and open your eyes to the simple joys in life and lots of new adventures in the New Year. 

So, as the clock advances to midnight on New Year's Eve, remember the THREE STEPS!

I wish you and your loved ones a Healthy, Safe, Happy, and Prosperous New Year.

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