Each January 1st, I think of the things I would like to see in the twelve months to follow. Mostly, I just close my eyes and pray that our house doesn't burn down, all our family, friends, and pets stay healthy, and we sustain a certain level of happiness. However, I do always add a few more things to that list each year (realistic hopes and goals), and something about a brand new year seems like a good place to start making changes.
Except...
The New Year doesn't really start for me until January 2nd. January 1st is like a day of limbo. You see, I have all these things I want to start doing, stop doing, do better, think about, etc. My intention, though, is never to start until January 2nd. This is because for the past 5-6 years (we can't really remember when we started this), Clinton and I have had a New Years Day tradition we call Limited Selection Movie Day (LSMD). It began in our very first apartment together, and I think we may have been expecting a storm. In preparation for this, Clinton went to the corner store up the road, and picked us up some movies and snacks. As you can imagine, the store really didn't have a huge movie selection, so he came home with two movies that we normally would never have rented. We spent New Years day holed up in our little home watching them, and much to our surprise, we really enjoyed both flicks. We decided that from then on, we would make every New Years "Limited Selection Movie Day." The fun part of it is that we can't have a huge variety of movies to choose from- that defeats the purpose. On this day, we must choose from a small assortment of movies, and try to keep an open mind in making our choices. On a regular movie night, if we couldn't find anything we really wanted to see, we'd say screw it and rent nothing. But on this, the day of limited selection movies, we have to choose something.
This year was different, though. This year we were faced with a challenge:
Since subscribing to Netflix, we have stopped renting movies. Clinton refuses to pay for a monthly subscription, and pay for rentals. I can't blame him (although Ashley and I may have cheated a couple times when he wasn't home and rented a new release that Netflix just didn't have- sue me!). So yesterday, we were faced with a problem we had never had- too many movie choices. Always being creative, Clinton suggested we just choose a random letter in the alphabet, and pick from movies that only start with that letter. We both picked a number between one and ten, and then put them together- they made 24. The 24th letter in the alphabet is "X". Typical that we would be stuck with "X", the most obscure letter. The letter that really has no friends, and is rarely used at the beginning of a word. "X" is to the alphabet what anchovies are to pizza- not really used, but always there. Not feeling that ambitious, Clinton just shouted out "R!" And so it was decided- the first movie we would watch would begin with R. We got our Chinese food, put on our pjs, and settled in to find our flick. I'm not sure what we were thinking, but the movie we ended up choosing was Requiem for a Dream. Let's just say that when it ended, we had to watch an episode of How I Met Your Mother to lighten the mood and erase the insanity of that movie from our fragile minds. I'm pretty sure I spent the last 3-4 minutes of it digging my nails into my own skin as I watched every character fall into an intense downward spiral. For movie number two (which came after a 3-hour nap following Requiem), we went with a lighter choice called Please Give (we both decided on the letter "P"). While I kept dozing off, and missed some pretty large chunks of the movie, it was enjoyable, cute, and funny, with a little bit of drama thrown in. Just what we needed.
January 1st- the day of limbo- is easily one of my favourite days of the year. It eases my post-Christmas blues (I despise parting with the Christmas season), and gives Clinton and I an excuse to snuggle up on the couch, eat food that is bad for us, and be completely lazy. I think this tradition is one of the most important in our relationship. If we were to plan a date night at home, and something came up, we would easily say "Okay, no big deal. We'll do it another night." But Clinton and I both know that aside from a major emergency, we're not letting anything interfere with LSMD. Having been together for almost eight years, it's a perfect way for us, as a couple, to start a new year- setting aside a day just for us, no plans or obligations, and no guilt about being completely unproductive. I love it, and hope it is something we continue every year for the rest of our lives.
I highly suggest starting your own New Years day tradition if you don't have one already. If you're like me, and feel like crying when you see all your Christmas stuff being hauled to the basement, this is a great way to cope!
Happy New Year, friends- I hope 2013 treats you well!
