1st Annual New Year Theme Celebration

On the night of January 1st I couldn't sleep. I stayed up late into the night writing goals for the new year in my journal. I was feeling a need for change... a need for improvement. I felt a great desire to elevate my way of living and to spend more of my time focused and devoted to the things that matter most. I continued the next day to try and pinpoint all the characteristics I was hoping to tweak, and attempted to consolidate these ambitions I was feeling. In not much time at all I stumbled upon a scripture that perfectly summarized the attempts I was striving to make:

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither most nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." -Matthew 6:19-20

This precisely summarized the desires I was feeling. I want to live mindfully. I want cut out the activities in my day that are frivolous and without meaning. I want to spend more time with my thoughts directed toward God and becoming that best version of myself that he can make me. My thoughts continued to snowball till eventually I had thoroughly planned out what became tonight:

the "1st Annual New Year Theme Celebration"

This year's theme: Treasures in Heaven

This idea was originally intended for BJ, Ellie, and myself, but this time my mom, Kim, and JaLayne came along too. (Good thing since my mom was my right hand man helping me every step of the way.)

The menu included:

Vegetarian Cobb Salad

with kidney beans, carrots, edamame, egg, tomatoes, corn, and avocado atop romaine and iceberg

Waldorf Salad with greek yogurt dressing and nutmeg garnish

Potatoes Au Gratin with gouda cheese

Miniature Baguettes (which are hiding under the dishtowel)

and sparkling juice

Ellie wiggled in my arms and reached for my plate as we ate dinner together. We had a family home evening lesson in which we joined in a rousing chorus of "The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock," and we set goals to try and lay up treasures in heaven, and spend less time and energy focusing on earthly treasures.

I spend a lot of time now that we've started our family thinking about traditions I'd like my little family to share. And although Ellie won't fully understand the significance of the Annual New Year Theme Celebration for at least a little while, I hope it is a tradition that we'll carry on and that our little family will come to love and treasure.

Over and out.

(Oh, and I made dessert and was soooo excited about it: Tucson Brownies- otherwise known as Texas Sheet Cake- and it royally failed. It was awful. I have my work cut out for me. I am on a mission to perfect my Tucson Brownie making skills. Wish me luck.)