Hey friends,

Happy New Year!

Anybody have any fun resolutions for 2024, or are we going into the New Year having given up on resolutions? Please let me know in the comments!

Personally, I haven’t given up on resolutions, per say, but I have done a different little ritual this year that focuses more on releasing than making promises that I won’t be keeping come December 31st, 2024.

I have found myself at another crossroads much like the one I was at at the end of my teaching career and am looking for answers about my next chapter. I have a tendency to get very comfortable in a place and then just kind of…sit. But I’ve been feeling this ache recently that it’s time to move again.

So, what’s the ritual?

The Twelve Magical Nights

I was watching TikTok back in October and happened upon a creator (Vanessa The Wonder Worker) who was talking about her December/January ritual called, “The Twelve Magical Nights”.

The ritual is that you write down thirteen wishes, and then you burn one wish per night starting either on December 21st or December 24th for twelve nights.

On the thirteenth night, you open the final wish and that is the wish that you are responsible for making come true.

Now, what appealed to me about this ritual is the fact that you have to be very intentional with your wishes. You want to be a billionaire, but that ends up being your thirteenth wish? Well, then YOU are responsible for figuring out how to become a billionaire.

It made me really consider what I was wishing for, but it also didn’t mean that I wished small either.

Tomorrow I open my thirteenth wish. My husband, who didn’t do this for himself but is invested in my magical nights journey, tried to coax me into opening the thirteenth wish today.

I told him he has to wait. So, tomorrow we shall see what wish I am responsible for making come true in 2024.

What Else Has Been Going On

Life has been utter chaos since Thanksgiving. Here’s a rundown:

First, we had Thanksgiving and a Black Friday trip to visit my mom in Pennsylvania. Mark and I ended up staying over at Mount Airy Lodge (because we love to gamble and it’s 20 minutes away from my mom’s house in the Poconos). We rounded out Thanksgiving weekend by putting up our tree that Saturday.

We hit the ground running in December with a trip to Disney world! We stayed at the Bay Lake Towers at the Contemporary, hit up the Jollywood Nights and Magic Kingdom parties, and snacked our way around the worlds at Epcot.

The day after I got home from Disney, I tested positive for Covid. Yay me.

Then, there was all the holiday stuff. Gift buying. Gift wrapping.

And then it was Christmas, which is a three day event in our family, celebrated at a variety of different houses, except…

I ended up sitting out on Christmas Day at my in-laws because Mark and I had to take our cat, Nora, to the emergency vet. Poor girl ended up having bronchitis and a stomach flu, so I stayed home to administer her meds and make sure she wasn’t too traumatized from the vet visit.

The rest of the week was spent doing festive holiday things and ended with Mark and I in our jams celebrating a quiet New Year at home. (Nora, by the way, is 100% recovered and back to being up my ass. I am so relieved!)

Moving Forward

I don’t know what this year will bring. As usual though, I am excited to find out. These last few years since 2020 have been some of the most dynamic of my life between leaving teaching, getting married, buying a house, writing novels…

Part of the 12 Magical Nights ritual was to pull a tarot card for each month of the year, but I didn’t do that.

I want to be surprised. That’s one of the best parts about life…when things align and you go, “Oh! So that’s what that was for!”

I don’t want to ruin the adventure.

But I have my wishes released along with a few other things, and I am ready to welcome them in whatever way they show up.

I’m also excited to continue sharing pieces of my life here, from the books I’m reading to the zero drafts I’ve written to just general day to day stuff.

This blog is my little experiment, a place to put my thoughts and connect with people. I think that’s one thing I’m hoping for more of in 2024, connection.

In the mean time, let me know in the comments how your December has been and what you’re looking forward to in the New Year!

In the mean time, I am wishing you a New Year filled with peace and happiness.