Last night the boys and I said goodbye to losses in 2013 as well as things we want to intentionally leave behind in the old year. We wrote things on paper and put them in the fire. What boy isn't going to like doing such thing? But not only did they get into the pyromania of it all, but I'm pretty sure they got into the idea as well. Losses included: Great-Papa, Violet (the cat), being a family in one house together, and for me, the STBEX and I as a couple. I didn't think I would share that with the boys, but I decided to do so. To talk about how it's not something that I'm looking for anymore, it's as gone as Great-Papa is gone. It's not coming back. I thought it might be helpful for them to hear that from me so they aren't holding onto empty hope as I know my NO might be.
We also put in things that we want to get rid of such as hitting, yelling, bad habits.  (That one was all NO's.  He came up with that idea, and when pressed to define, he said farting and picking his nose. Ok, then!  Sounds like a good thing to say goodbye to to me too!) I put in being so sedentary, putting other people's needs before my own, and thinking too much about my feelings instead of just feeling them.  We had good conversations about the papers.  My LO and I put "potty in diapers" into the fire, but I'm afraid we didn't have immediate 100% success on that one.
Not to focus solely on losses and things to give up, we also made trees with wishes for the new year. Tu B'Shevat, the Jewish New Year for the trees is coming up in just a couple weeks, so it seems fitting to think about promise and new growth in the form of trees and baby leaves.