I kind of hate this saying – and the whole idea of setting up resolutions and goals is annoying. At the beginning, I tried to embrace it – making new resolutions, trying to stick to with them and getting the family involved. Don’t get me wrong – we still have goals, and things we want to accomplish – but they are year long goals, and we do monthly check-ins to hold each other accountable, building on each goal. They are not random, and most are the same resolutions from last year we are still working on.

But in reality – 2025 kicked our emotional butts. Personally, we said good-bye to our oldest pup, as she crossed the Rainbow Bridge. As Americans, we watched as our country lost its way. 2026 is not looking so hot either. We were driving back from the in-laws when news of Venezuela hit… I literally had just woken up the second day of the drive. Then everything that happened in Minnesota – and continues to happen. So we move forward into this year with one major goal – to remind people of their Humanity, of their Empathy and that at the end of the day, we are all Humans, deserving of the right to Live.

We celebrated our normal traditions this year – despite being away from home, and introduced our grape tradition to my in-laws. Every New Year’s Eve at midnight, we eat twelve grapes. This year we learned part of the tradition is to make wishes, so we incorporated that as well. On New Year’s Day, we eat Hoppin’ John. While we did not get to clean the whole house on New Year’s Even this year since we were out of town, we look forward to continuing that tradition next year. Moving into this year without our furry family member has been really hard, but somehow we are making it through. It doesn’t feel like a New Year honestly, and as this country appears to be on the brink of losing itself, my sole hope is that the majority of American’s retain their humanity. How did you celebrate the New Year and why is that your tradition?