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10 Goals For This Week and Why Our Christmas Decorations Are Staying Up

I'm really looking forward to continuing our Christmas celebrations this week with family.

Happy Monday and Merry Christmas!  Before you find yourself in a hurry to pack up each and every Christmas decoration this week take a moment to reflect on the fact that it is only the 4th Day of Christmas.  That's right.  Traditionally Christmas marks the beginning of the Christmas season and not the end.  December 25 marks the beginning of the 12 days of Christmas which run through January 6.  January 6 is also Epiphany or the day that Christians celebrate the coming of the Magi.  In our home I have passed down the tradition from my parents of leaving all of the decorations up until we celebrate the coming of the Wise Men on January 6.

While you might feel a rush to pack everything away once-don't!  Even if you notice your neighbor's decorations are all neatly packed away in the garage.  Instead choose to incorporate just a little more memory making this week with your family.  Were you secretly hoping to bake "Christmas Cookies" with your children before Christmas?  Pencil that right into your week because Christmas isn't over!  This week I"m planning to spend lots of time enjoying Christmas music, books, traditions, and even a project or two that didn't happen before December 25.  I will even be fine tuning an arrangement of We Three Kings to play on Sunday so there is sure to be a lot of Christmas music in the Emerson home.

This Week's Goals:

Marriage, Mothering, & Family
1.  Plan a fun at home date for New Year's Eve.  With young children in our home we honestly enjoy spending the evening at home much better than a late night out.  I'd love your suggestions for our celebration at home.
2.  Whisk the family off on a Day Trip to Columbus, OH.  We are looking forward to visiting COSI while we are there and possibly the Topiary Park depending on the weather.
3.  Continue to enjoy Christmas with my family this week.  I'm hoping to finish reading The Nutcracker, and make candy or cookies with the children.

Personal
4.  Finish reading Professionalizing Motherhood.
5.  Workout three times.  I would also like to take advantage of the kids being on break (from both schoolwork and therapy) to head to our gym at least once.  We bought Evangeline a new bathing suit for Christmas and she keeps begging to go to the pool.

Homemaking
6.  Sew a birthday gift for my sister-in-law Amber.
7.  Get rid of 50 items in 50 minutes!  Want to join me this week in this area?  The plan is to set the timer for 50 minutes and quickly find 50 items that no longer need to live at my home.  These items will be passed onto family, friends, or dropped off at the care mission.
8.  Write a letter in order to straighten out an insurance mistake.

Ministry & Friendships
9.  Visit my dear friend Sarah who has been one of my best friends since I was a little girl.  She is on bed rest right now and I'm hoping to bring her some cheer.  Last week I was blessed to spend time with two other dear friends from my teenage years.  I'm so thankful that we are such good friends after all these years.  We enjoyed the museum with one friend and the Festival of Lights at the zoo with the other.

Business
10.  Work on advertisement for my tutoring and piano business.  I'm so excited to begin teaching piano lessons and offering tutoring again.  Due to Evangeline's health concerns I took last semester completely off.  Please help spread the word!

What goals do you have for this week?  Does your family continue to celebrate Christmas after the 25th?  How do you celebrate the New Year?
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