The days are flying by super fast. We welcomed 2025 in Poland with the in laws. It’s been 3 days and many precious time spent with people who we rarely see throughout the year.

The year behind us

I never close the year that has just passed. But I would like to change that. I am thinking to start a new tradition this year with the kids, but more on that later.

For now, what made my 2024 are the following:

• New Year’s Day trip to the Christmas Garden at Mainau Island near Konstanz
• Meeting our son, Oliver
• Grateful for all emergency services that helped to keep our family safe
• Easter fun with the Puha family
• Visiting the Lindt Chocolate factory near Zurich
• Trip to Swiss Miniature in Lugano
• Trip to Säntis with Mother’s Day breakfast at the peak
• Random sightseeings around Bodensee
• Testing out the first Rugelreise in Thurgau
• Trips with the Andrusiewicz family
• Moving to Ticino, leaving Thurgau
• New kindergarten for B
• Electric scooter purchase
• Nature walks
• Halloween party with Kindergarten friends
• Visiting Brissago Island
• Visiting family in Italy
• Andrusiewicz fam visiting in Ticino
• Advent Walks and kindergarten party
• Cousin and family visited for Christmas
• Trip to Poland

New Years Eve

We made it to Poland around 4 pm on New Year’s Day. Just enough time left for a brief stroll around the old town before tucking the little ones to bed. Then popped a large Prosecco and kept our eyelids open until the midnight fireworks had begun. It was worth the wait and the bonus that we got to watch it from the dinning table.

The year ahead of us

I have good feelings about 2025. I read that it is a very mathematical year and that the last time such year occurred was is 1936. (45 x 45 = 2025) The next perfect square year will arrive in 2116. I don’t think I am going to live 129 years to experience that.

So this year I would like to focus on three things mainly when it comes for parenting.

1. Being outdoors
2. Being present
3. Being grateful

Firstly, being outdoors as much / as often / as possible. Last year, I joined the 1000 hours outside challenge. But soon I have lost count. Although my vision did not change for the year, the circumstances did not allow me to focus on this objective throughout the year. This year, I would like to give it another go and involve my eldest son in the recording process. The attractive aspect of the challenge is the visual recording of the time spent outdoors. I am a sucker for hitting goals so I think this is a win-win situation. A nice recording sheet on the wall will be coloured hour by hour after spending time outdoors. There are a lot of trackers available online. Click on the link to see some of them!

Secondly, I would like to make a school day goal to spend time with each of my kids (at least on school days) individually. Weekends are for collective fun because there are no extra curricular activities yet in our lives. One ‘game’ per day per child. It is just too easy to overlook even though it is so so simple. Often it doesn’t take longer than 10-15 minutes due to their short attention span. However, it means a lot for them and even more for me. I need to stay connected to them all on a personal level. It is way too easy for me to find one more thing that needs to be done around the house with the endless chores and tasks to complete. These need to take a second place and stop running my days.

Thirdly, I may have mentioned it before that Alzheimer runs in the ladies side of my mom’s family. We talk about it with my mom from time to time. We are both terrified to end up one day not remembering all the nice moments of our lives. I am even considering to film our adventures for my future less attentive self. I think it will be nice to watch back the videos to help remembering better. I am not video maker but I feel passionate about learning this new skill. Keeping it private takes the perfection-pressure off my shoulders. Another activity I used to do (and I loved) was bullet journal. It kept me sharp on things that were happening around me and allowed me to be more present. This time my issue is that every time I sit down with some paper and pen, my effort to record things is being overwritten. My daughter does not yet understand the concept of having a notebook or paper for each of us. She will eventually get in my notebook and takes over the pages like she has to finish the whole book in one day 🙂 I tried digital trackers, but the complexity of the tracker makes the experience utterly non-enjoyable and after a few weeks of logging the program breaks down.

In summary there are two things to focus on. Creating memorable videos of our adventures (that are in the nature) for personal use and to get back to daily bullet journaling, which also ties in nicely with being more present rather than move with the tide.