Happy 2026, friends! What magnificent plans do you have for the new year? What aspirations and goals do you have for the next twelve months? Keep them lofty and dreamy, but practical, too, and work to make your wishes come true this year. Hopefully, most of your dreams and ideas for the new and blank calendar squares include huge amounts of family fun, fellowship and frivolity. Plan now to make memories throughout the new month and new year that will last for a lifetime and become treasured remembrances of joy. See if you can top last year’s greatest adventure sometime this year, but squeeze in those little, happy moments, too. Make every day a holiday this year and celebrate big with family.
Create your own unique family celebrations this month and add in the wacky ones below.
National Hot Tea Month – Celebrate the day with a cup of warm tea on a cold afternoon. Have a picnic outside, sit at the dining room table, or gather on the floor in the den. After enjoying a nice cut of hot tea together, research online to find out the history of tea-drinking. Did you know the origins of sipping tea resulted accidentally and was first used for medicinal purposes only?
National Soup Month – Gather in the kitchen to make a batch of soup to enjoy on a cold night. Try this recipe for hearty potato soup. In a large saucepan, heat one tablespoon butter and one tablespoon canola oil until butter is melted. Add three medium golden yellow potatoes, peeled and cubed. Season with one-half teaspoon garlic salt and one-fourth teaspoon black pepper. Cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender and lightly browned, about six to seven minutes.
Stir in one 14.5 ounce can of chicken broth, one small chopped onion, one-fourth cup crumbled cooked bacon, one minced garlic clove. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in one cup hot water and two teaspoons chicken bouillon granules. Gradually stir in one cup heavy whipping cream and heat through. Add three-fourths cup shredded cheddar cheese and heat until melted.
National Handwriting Analysis Week – How’s your handwriting? Encourage each family member to write love notes to each member of the family, but don’t sign the notes. Put the notes in a basket together. Pull them out one by one to read aloud and guess who wrote the note by analyzing the handwriting.
Festival of Sleep Day – Enjoy this fun way to celebrate the day by having a family sleepover. Pile sleeping bags on the floor in the den. Picnic on the floor, watch a family movie, and end with some of these books. The Napping House by Audrey and Don Wood, The Full Moon at the Napping House by Audrey and Don Wood, A Dragon Needs His Sleep by Steve Herman. Sleep, Big Bear, Sleep by Maureen Wright and Sleep Like a Tiger by Mary Logue.
National Take the Stairs Day – Start off the new year in a healthy way by taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Not just for one day, but make plans to do so as often as possible this month and this year. In fact, find lots of ways to keep moving this year as a family with treks around the neighborhood, walks around the park, or long hikes on a trail through the forest. You might find it fun to keep a record of your outdoor steps taken as a family each weekend and tally them up at the end of the month. Then, by the end of the year, see how many miles you’ve traveled together.
Though the confetti is cleaned up and swept away, find something fun to celebrate with each new day of 2020. Make lots of memories with the ones you love this year, and fill January days with fun and adventure. Happy New Year to all.
Statesboro native Julie Lavender looks forward to a new year of celebrations and family fun.