| Some parents see New Year's Eve as an opportunity | | | | Something I wish I could do over |
| to get away from the family to celebrate in private | | | | My favorite place I visited this year |
| or with friends. Going out to dinner, attending parties, | | | | Something I bought for myself |
| and emptying bottles seems to be the order of the | | | | Something I did for others |
| night. I recommend another alternative, one that can | | | | At eleven o'clock we ended Topic Talk and got out |
| help your family grow closer. Spend New Year's Eve | | | | Our Goals--a list of goals that we had shared and |
| together. It's an ideal time to celebrate | | | | recorded the previous New Year's Eve. I kept them |
| connectedness, reflect on the past year, and look | | | | in a special drawer in my desk. Again we took turns, |
| ahead to the future. | | | | reading our goals from the preceding year and telling |
| This is how it worked for our family, when my | | | | whether we had reached them or not. One New |
| children were growing up. Deciding what treats to | | | | Year's Eve, our goals from the previous year were: |
| purchase, shopping together, and decorating occupied | | | | Jenny - Go to horseback riding camp |
| much of the day that led up to the big evening. | | | | Matt - Get a medal in wrestling |
| Dinner and card games filled the early evening. When | | | | Randy - Make the high school baseball team |
| interest in games died down, we assembled in the | | | | Me - Finish my manuscript on "Talk Sense to |
| living room, sat in a circle, and began the most | | | | Yourself" and run a marathon with dignity |
| meaningful part of our New Year's Eve | | | | After sharing in depth how we had achieved or |
| together--Topic Talk. | | | | hadn't achieved our previous year's goals, we set |
| Topics are ideas we dreamed up to help structure | | | | new ones for the upcoming year. Jenny acted as |
| our conversation. One family member suggested a | | | | recorder and took down our statements as we |
| topic like "A new friend I made this year," or "My | | | | dictated them. I then put the goals away until our |
| favorite song this year." We each took a turn | | | | next New Year's Eve celebration. |
| responding to the topic, telling as much as we chose. | | | | As the time neared midnight, we turned on the TV |
| Listeners did simply that--listened until everyone had | | | | and counted down the minutes and seconds. We |
| responded. When each person had had an | | | | included in our celebration the traditional hugs, kisses, |
| opportunity to respond to the topic, we asked | | | | and noisemaking. |
| questions and elaborated on our remarks. Some of | | | | Adapt this idea to fit you and your family. Gather |
| the topics we used that helped us get in touch with | | | | your family together and lead off the New Year's |
| each other and reflect on the previous year included: | | | | celebration by sharing your goal for the New Year: to |
| My favorite book this year | | | | promote togetherness and build family spirit. |
| Something I did that I'm proud of | | | | |