I have some friends that are stretching out the festivities, Christmas decor and all, and waiting to return to school for a few more days. Love that; sounds so cozy!

We, on the other hand, are the crazy people that spend the week between Christmas and new year prepping all things- we’ve undecorated (and it feels so good), meal planned, grocery shopped, organized the kitchen, and made some goals.

But let’s back up a few days for a minute.

On the 30th, we took Finley to Hoptown’s music bingo and she slept in my lap for most of the night. A huge win in my book! New Year’s eve we had The Barbers over for football and food. We put up some decorations to celebrate the new year and to highlight the rivalry of the big game- Georgia versus Michigan!

Fortunately it was a dominate Georgia win; unfortunately it didn’t lead to much exciting football. Still, we did fireworks, toasted champagne, and watched the Nashville music special as we welcomed in a new year!

New Year’s day was exactly what I hoped for. A good house cleaning, a 5 mile walk, a nap, and some lazy family football watching. I made our traditional meal of pork tenderloin, black eyed peas (for luck!), collard greens (for money), and tomatoes (for love!)..

I spent some time yesterday transferring my goals to my planner. I created weekly boxes to count our read aloud and yoga sessions. I filled out our commitments and trips. And I decided on a year long project that honestly intimidates me a bit: I’m going to track all our grocery spending in 2022.

I know some of you budget geniuses are like, yeah, I do that, but I’ll admit that I have a tough time sticking to budgets or financial tracking for microfinances. So I’m going to do it out loud, here on the blog, every month.

My goal is to get a clear picture of my grocery habits: where I shop, what I cook, how much I spend. To track a week or two, it’s fairly simple to keep costs down, but over a full year, it can capture all the grocery spending in a more accurate way.

I’m nervous about this because it feels like a big commitment, but I’m also energized by it. I think the full transparency will be interesting to see and share.

The rest of yesterday passed in a relaxed fashion. I prepped sweet potato and black bean chili for this week’s lunches and boiled eggs while the girls hosted a cooking competition in their makeshift outdoor kitchen. David and I knocked out leg day. Finley tried to sneak her bone in the house.

Then we watched Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. We are rewatching the Harry Potter movies up through Order of the Phoenix because today we are diving back into The Half Blood Prince in anticipation of our August trip to Disney/Universal.

Today we are easing back into our school routine. I printed off their charts in color and laminated them. Hailey saw me doing it and gave me a slight groan and single eyebrow raise, but I like to believe we’re all ready for a little routine around here. We shall see!

I hope the first Monday of the New Year is a good one for you!