I saw a suggestion online that New Year’s Eve was a good day to go through your Facebook friends and do some editing. I went through mine, but didn’t have anyone to edit. I did notice I am now up to four Facebook friends who are…er, no longer with us. I do not want to delete them. But this is a new situation to figure out, as we get older and more and more of our Facebook friend list is…In Memoriam.
Speaking of New Year’s Eve: in Times Such as These, I can see going either way on New Year’s resolutions. I can imagine someone resolving to Take Action (Postcards to Voters! letters to Congress! the midterms!!), or I can imagine These Times serving as motivation for resolutions about getting physically stronger. I find myself on the side of I Can’t Face It. If I WERE going to make resolutions, they would ONLY be the small and/or fun kinds: like, I can sort of imagine resolving to spend five minutes on the exercise bike each day OR I can imagine resolving to subscribe to a monthly sticker club or learn to make a new cocktail—things like that. I’m not going to do even those small/fun resolutions. But I cannot imagine resolving to do anything harder or less fun.
Another year gone, and I can’t believe how many years of our lives have been dominated by a cruel fool. It has been good at least to go through it together, and to have hope of a different future. Let’s continue to stick together, and let’s keep two bottles of champagne in the fridge: one for the new year, and one for that special day. Onward into 2026.
Thank you for that last paragraph, Swistle.
May this new year be good to you.
My resolution this year is the same as last year – stop by aspirational groceries. I am 40 years old. Who am I trying to impress with my bag of spring mix, or bunch of fresh parsley for an 8-step recipe I am not going to make, or tub of hummus even though I don’t like hummus?? Last year,‘I failed miserably, but this year! This is the year I buy groceries for the person I am, not the person I wish I was.
Omg. I love this for you and hope you succeed. I will make that 8 step recipe and love hummus so you can send them my way if you slip up ( or try your local buy nothing and make someone’s day).
PS: no resolutions here. I do miss the “subscribe to this post” option when leaving a comment here. I used to get threads of replies in my email and it was great. Did the host discontinue? Swistle did you remove it on purpose?
I didn’t remove it. It’s a WordPress blog, so perhaps they removed it as part of an update, or possibly it’s an opt-in thing now? I’ll poke around in the options and see if I can find anything.
Yay!
I have quite a few Facebook friends who are not with us and I also cannot unfriend them. I AM NOT UNFRIENDING DEAD PEOPLE.
I have a resolution to DNF books that I am not enjoying. I push through and almost never am I happy I did. Time is valuable, and I don’t want to waste it on books that are not for me!
I like the 2 bottles of champagne idea. Especially the non-new years one. I resolve to buy a couple bottles of champagne for when we have something to celebrate.
I like thinking about that bottle of bubbly in your fridge… waiting.
I highly recommend Harry Baker on Instagram. He’s a British poet who posted a lovely piece about resolutions today. So good, so real.
I hate that we’ve been dealing with this mess for 10 years. I. Am. Tired. I’m a Federal employee and my boss sent an email yesterday saying that we had just finished our most challenging year and basically that he knew our jobs have sucked. It was oddly touching. I have 14 years to retirement and I’m legit counting down. Also I hate to admit how often I’ve thought about that great, great day when we can pop our bottles of champagne and celebrate. I can’t imagine how great it will feel.
I’ll need to think about resolutions. A few years ago I started writing down 3 good things that happened per day. It was nice. I’d like to get back to that habit. Boring, but I’d really like to stay on top of a clean-ish house.
Going to share my NYE tradition here, which I realize no one asked for and it’s not the topic of the post and also it’s 12 months early, but anyway…
While kids and spouse and I are watching the tv for NYE fireworks, I hand out Terry’s chocolate oranges, and at midnight we all throw them on the floor to crack the balls before eating. I buy (from World Market, typically in mid Nov) a mix of flavors according to preferences, but personally I recommend the Popping Candy version for some extra NYE party flair. Remarkably fun little tradition.
Just to tie it in to Swistle’s champagne plans, maybe I’ll keep some on hand in case we have any reason to celebrate tossing oranges in 2026!
I recommend resolution bingo! 24 concrete resolutions arranged on a bingo board. Less pressure, cause if you fail one, oh well, you can still get bingo. Concrete goals (“read 25 books” instead of “read more”) so that you get to tick them off. I tend to fill it with things I’d like to do, but have never got around to. Highly recommend!
This sounds fun. I might want more examples. That could be a fun post. Solicit square suggestions and then people can make their own. I am into it at least
Some of my coworkers did Resolutions Bingo last year, and I am trying to remember some of the things they put. There was “try a new cookie recipe,” “see [particular movie],” “clean one kitchen cabinet,” “try a [particular exercise class at a gym she belongs to],” “hike three different trails,” “buy flowers,” “plant tulip bulbs,” “choose a new comforter for the bed,” “try ax-throwing,” “eat at [new local restaurant],” “go out to eat with a friend,” “go out for coffee with a friend,” “read one non-fiction book,” “go to an author event,” and “get ice cream at [new local ice cream place].”
These are all awesome and I did some of them in 2025! Already ahead!
We were discussing this last night – 10 years of horrible politics, COVID , the revival of public racism and the new nazis, the total acceptance of blatant lies as facts, slow erosion of democracy, the warming planet, lack of respect for science, the economy, the conspiracy theories -what we have had to endure because of power hungry amoral sociopaths and vacuous followers.
I’m tired. Just so tired. And disgusted. How do we come back from this?
In my weakest moments I wish for terrible things to befall those that watch Fox (oh for a virus to spread through a TV!) but I don’t want to have hate in my heart.
My daughter did a fun alternative to resolutions, which I think she saw on TikTok: she created little punch cards for things like “workout ten times” or “make six new recipes” and bought a cute little hole puncher, and every time she does one of those things she punches the card. When a card is full, she gets herself a little treat.
I can get behind the concept of a little treat!
That’s a great idea!
Yes, onward. Onward together. We need to know we are in a community of human beings. All the best to you and to the celebration those bottles of champagne are waiting for.
I will stay as long as you’ll have me.
Cheers to making it through together!
There is a place somewhere deeeeep in your Facebook settings for you to designate someone to manage your Facebook page after you die. It gives that person the power to turn it into a true In Memoriam page, delete any weird embarrassing stuff, monitor friend requests and comments, etc. I picked my person 15+ years ago and we aren’t really friends any more…I supposed I ought to change it now but Facebook is so ::shudder:: that I don’t know if it matters.
My soft resolution is to make this the year of birthday cards. And to not let myself think it’s lame to send a card without a gift card in it. I don’t have a ton of disposable income right now (do any of us?) but I can do stamps. It’s a soft resolution because if I send it and it arrives within a two week window of their birthday I’m calling it a success.
I like the idea of sending more birthday cards. That would be a good one for Resolution Bingo, too.
My father and I were never FB friends and no one turned off his profile and now no one knows his password. Now that he’s been gone for several years I got tired of receiving unexpected sad jolts every time I saw him in my sister’s friends list or whenever he was suggested as a new friend to me, so I actually blocked his profile, which was sad in itself to do, but at least I don’t see his photo with “add friend” beside it all the time now.