Family forwards and backwards

Happy New Year's Eve!  I don't think I was quite ready for today being New Years Eve.  When I finally came to realize that today was the last day of the 2010 calendar year, I began to ask myself some questions:  the looking forward questions were about what I want to accomplish (if anything) in 2011, where would I like to travel to (if possible), what experiences do I want to share with my family, what coming together events am I most looking forward to?  I also began to reflect and ask myself some looking back questions; what stands out as the most memorable experiences/events of the past year?  what has changed from January of 2010 to now? 

I began reflecting on the past year during a car ride this morning with my husband and darling sweet daughters.  We were talking about what New Year's Eve is, and why people celebrate. I asked my husband what he most looked forward to doing in 2011 and he said spending time with his family.  My oldest daughter responded that she would like to go fishing (a girl after her father's heart no doubt!) and my youngest repeated her older sister's response, not quite sure what to make of this whole New Year's Eve discussion.

We started talking a bit about a 'family plan' for 2011 focused on what sort of things people wanted to do, be part of, experience, try out etc and it gave me strength, excitement and a sense of connection to those amazing people I feel blessed to call my family.  We talked about places we would like to travel to, celebrations we would like to have, and how much we look forward to the warm weather and the summertime.

In addition to this time of reflection, the evening was filled with a very relaxed, casual dinner with friends and some family.  The food was nourishing, healthy and hearty.  There was lots of noise, chatter and laughter (and the occasional conflict) with all the kids and the adults even got a chance to talk as well.  It reminded me that keeping it simple typically contributes the most to my happiness and lack of stress.

The picture today is a drawing my oldest made this morning, she tells me the hearts over people's heads mean love.   Really is there anything else anyone could ask for?

Here's wishing you health and wealth (insert your own definition here) and lots of abundance in 2011.