Happy New Year!
Musings on Twixmas and the year to come.
I heard someone use the term “Twixmas” for the time between Christmas and New Years and I like it, so I am adopting it. That weird time at the end of the year before the start of the new year always seems like lost time. I couldn’t tell you exactly what I was doing last week but I know I cooked a lot of yummy food, went for very chilly walks, watched way more shows than I usually do, read way less than I usually do and did a dash of work.
I took off an entire week (a rarity!) before Christmas and spent part of wandering around New York with my family, eating delicious foods that I miss, wandering through places I miss and seeing people I miss. It was great. My youngest somehow has spent the first 5 years of his life without visiting New York, which is very much a shame. I blame it on his coming into the world during the Pandemic and my unwillingness to travel much for a long time afterward. Anyway, he’s been there now and he will be there again because we have way too much family in New York to stay away for too long (even if somehow we managed to these last 5 years).
I needed this break. There was no school, no work, not activities for my kids. Just being at home (and away) together. There was more time to putter and cook and think and just do nothing at all. What a luxury. I am coming into 2026 with a profound sense of quiet and calm. Something I did not go into 2025 with.
Next week the kids will go back to school, activities will resume, my mass of January deadlines will snap back into the forefront of my mind and my anxiety about getting everything done will come roaring back, but for right now, it is peaceful and I am soaking it all in.
I’m not the type to make formal New Year’s Resolutions, but here are a few things, I want to do more of in 2026:
I walk quite a bit, but I’m a fair weather walker. I want to make more of an effort to get outside even when it’s freezing, snowing or raining. I have the gear, I just need to use it. There is something supremely satisfying about walking in bad weather and I’ve enjoyed doing a bit of walking in the cold and wind these last few days, so why not continue?
We cook at home most days, but things have gotten monotonous. I want to reclaim my joy in cooking and experimenting with new recipes this year. It’s hard because my children are incredibly picky, but I want to cook more for myself and not just for my kids this year. I spent a lot of this time between holidays cooking food I haven’t made in a long time and it made me very happy so I want to keep that going in 2026.
Prior to the pandemic I was very active within my neighborhood but the pandemic made me into a bit of a hermit. I’ve come out a bit more in the past year, but I want to get back to doing the random things I used to. I want to take weird classes at the rec center, go to all the silly community events my neighborhood puts on, go draw with the local urban sketchers group, go to a journaling meet up, start a monthly Art Salon. And of course, see friends and family more. Basically, I’m ready to be a slightly more extroverted human than I have been these past few years.
How about you? How did you spend Twixmas? Do you have any resolutions for 2026?
Hope you are having a wonderful start to the New Year!
See you next week,
