A New Year, Lots to Celebrate in 2013

It's 2013 and I can proudly say that I've made no resolutions, although I have made a few, um, suggestions for myself for the new year.

As I skimmed through my brand, spankin' new 2013 calendar -- trying to ignore that nagging, superstitious feeling that anything with the number 13 is inherently unlucky -- and was taken aback when I realized several things:

I completely forgot to book my kids' annual doctor's appointments last year. Whoops.

My eldest two kids are not only going into high school this fall, but are going to turn 15 this summer.

Our "puppy" will turn 4 this spring.

Easter is very early this year.

Oh, and 2013 will mark the year that I become a published novelist. Seriously. Remember that book I talked about earlier, Mortified: A Novel About Oversharing? Well, it's going to be published this spring. More deets on this later . . .

After I marked down all the birthdays and anniversaries on the calendar, I thought about 2012 and what promises the new year holds and came up with several things we've got goin' on in the plus column:

-- I made it through Christmas without getting the swine flu or a stomach bug, both of which have sullied previous celebrations of Yuletide splendor.

-- The Youngest Boy did NOT freak out when he discovered that there was NOT a bow-and-arrow set beneath the Christmas tree. Katniss, he is not.

-- The older two went to a boy-girl New Year's Eve party while The Spouse, The Youngest Boy and I ate Chinese food (the adults had the take-out, the kid had leftover pizza . . . because I've been a lazy chef as of late. No judging!) and watched the second Lord of the Rings film, The Two Towers, because we wanted to have a quiet, family evening, save for our partying teens.

-- Our ice rink (pictured above) is actually operational! Longtime Picket Fence Post readers know that the subject of our backyard ice rink has been a source of tremendous angst for The Spouse, with the exception of one, spectacular year (the same year I got swine flu for Christmas, apparently because I'd been a wicked girl during the prior 12 months). Our history when it comes to this brand of home recreation is, shall we say, checkered, thus my joy at the fact that kids are actually SKATING on the rink into which The Spouse has invested so much money time.

-- The Spouse and I are both gainfully employed on a full-time basis. I'm currently on winter break from the university where I teach and am busily working on new syllabi for the spring semester. I'm very enthused about a course I'm developing.

Things in the minus column:

-- I haven't attended a yoga class in months. It was either sleep or yoga. I couldn't do both, so yoga got the shaft. And the kids have noticed. The Spouse has noticed. How did they notice, you might ask, other than by assessing muscle tone? Because when I'm actively practicing yoga I will experience moments, or stretches of zen-like, "yo dude" calm. That zen thing, my friends, has been noticeably absent, my patience practically nonexistent. Piling on a stress-filled Christmas season didn't help. Therefore, it is VITAL that I find a yoga class that fits into my crazy schedule. Soon!

-- I haven't had a real date with my husband since we celebrated our 20th anniversary in the beginning of November. (We did go to see Lincoln a few weeks ago while the kids saw a different movie with friends, but since the kids were in another theater and it was in the middle of the day, I don't consider that a date.) This situation, like the yoga one, also needs to be rectified.

Overall, the Picket Fence Post family is heading into 2013 with hope and eagerness, and I, personally, plan to laugh like a maniac when I gaze at our family calendar and discover that all five of us are scheduled  for something at the same time in different locations. Or maybe I'll just cancel all of our appointments and have us all go ice skating in our yard.

Making Time: Parents Gotta Put in Time . . . for Themselves

I very nearly canceled my overnight trip to a Boston hotel with my husband earlier this month (we were only in the city from 6:30 p.m. through 11:30 a.m.) because the Picket Fence Post kids’ schedules were weighing on my guilty mom conscience and I didn’t think I could choose going away over them.

When I originally made the reservation to stay overnight at the Liberty Hotel in Boston to celebrate my 18th wedding anniversary with The Spouse, there was nothing on the calendar in early December. (The hotel was a former jail which I thought was ironic given that the whole point was for us to gain some “liberty” as a couple, for just one night.) My intention was that we’d go to the city early on a Saturday afternoon after leaving the kids with The Spouse’s sister, walk around for a bit, enjoy a nice dinner and on the following day, have a leisurely brunch then do a little shopping at the kinds of stores the kids complain bitterly about being dragged into.

As the date drew nearer, three youth basketball games, two youth hockey games and a Nativity play in which all three kids were appearing (The Girl was the narrator) were scheduled during what was supposed to be "our" weekend. But when I got cold feet and wanted to call it off, it was The Spouse who insisted that we could figure it out. And thanks to the kindness and flexibility of my sister- and brother-in-law, The Spouse and I were indeed able to get away, for a few quality hours any way . . . and after having one FABULOUS dinner at the Beacon Hill Bistro.

My realization that we NEEDED to make our time together a priority – because if we don’t make it a priority ,who will? -- was the focus of my Pop Culture and Politics column this week.

Do you ever struggle to find time to be alone with your significant other? Do you allow the kids’ schedules and activities to overwhelm your own social/romantic life with your spouse, to put it last on your priority list because making arrangements is too exhausting?