New Year, New Beginnings: Celebrating January

I pondered this for a moment because I feel like my immediate reaction would be to say December, you know, because of Christmas. I love the Christmas season. I might consider July because that’s my birthday month and for so many years it meant that I was on summer break. But July is most definitely not my favorite because I really hate hot weather and I live in the southeast. July is hot.

With that said, I think January is actually my favorite month. While I love the decorations at Christmas and everything that comes with it, there is something refreshing about packing it all away in January and preparing the house for a new year. There is an air of newness to the month. A new year, along with the obligatory resolutions, and with it, a range of possibilities. To be fair, all of us were feeling that in 2020 and then Covid came roaring in not long after that. But in the absence of a global pandemic to start the year, January is truly a fresh start. It can mean something different to everybody, but everybody gets that second, or third, or fourth chance or whatever number chance to try again. Or try something for the first time. And there’s no judgement because it’s almost expected that people try new things at the beginning of the year. It’s almost as expected as people giving up those things a month later. But it’s always exciting to try each year.

I also look forward to January because that means the heart of winter and the hope that it will snow. We haven’t had snow here in the southeastern part of the U.S. in several years, but the snow lover in me always holds out hope that something will come our way and all things will line up just right for us to get something white and fluffy falling from the sky. Hurricane days are more common now than snow days, but the eternal optimist in me still thinks there’s a chance for a good snow each year.

My husband’s birthday is also in January. It aligns perfectly with the three-day weekend that we get in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s always fun celebrating him and making him a special meal and birthday cake and pretending I can do it as well as he does when it’s my birthday. He’s a foodie and even though I’ve learned a lot from him over the years, I must always accept defeat and bow down to his culinary expertise. It’s still an acceptable meal and a decent cake. Even just trying to be fancy in the kitchen on his birthday is fun. I give it my best shot every year. And really, we all give it our best shot in January. Sometimes we’re lucky and really get the hang of whatever we’ve set out to start doing. Whether we’re lucky or not in our new year’s endeavors, it’s fun to try and hope for the best.