Happy Friday! I may have mentioned this before, but in my family we had this sacred tradition: on the morning of New Year’s Day, my mom would plop a few pairs of new underwear on all the kids’ beds, and the three Ishida offspring knew that it was mandatory to don one of them to bed the first night of the year. Just to clarify, the new undergarments are worn on the first evening of the year, and not on New Year’s Eve. I have no idea if this is a traditional Japanese thing, or if it’s some weird ritual my mom came up with. Most likely the latter.

Anyway, I continue to carry on this tradition because I think it’s funny, though M hasn’t gotten fully on board with it. Because I was in the throes of puffer jacket making, I decided it would be okay to buy a few pairs for K and myself instead of sewing them up. So on New Year’s Eve, K and I found ourselves at the mall, sipping hot cocoa at a Starbucks and armed with a fresh package of undies for her (I realized I’d gotten some for myself from Fred Meyer a while back and still had a couple of pairs that were unworn). Since we had some time to kill, I asked her to write down all the things that she liked about 2015.

She did so, and without me prompting her, she also wrote down what she’s looking forward to in 2016. I’m especially smitten with her 2016 list which you see up there. I implored K to give me permission to post it — it’s so dang cute.

You can see that though she has slight reservations about 5th grade, she’s mostly happy about it. A couple of her closest friends have been out of the country for the last few months, and she can’t wait to see them again when they return. And “nengajoe” (I usually spell it nengajou, but I like her spelling better) is a Japanese New Year’s postcard; her school had a special nengajoe art contest that she entered — there’s some trepidation there, I’ve noted. I remember how nervous I used to feel whenever I entered any contest. And how sweet is it that she’s counting down the days for my mom (bachan) to visit? Last year we missed seeing M’s side of the family due to some scheduling issues, so we’re doubly excited about the mini-reunion we’re planning in Michigan this summer.

I’m writing up my own list of Awesome Things That I Hope Happen. There will be book stuff on there. Traveling. Earning a living. Being comfortable in my own skin (I’m getting there). The usual hopes, I guess. What would be on your list?

How is your new year
starting out so far, my friends?
Let’s make it awesome

Happy, happy weekend to you! See you next week!

P.S. Update on 2016 SVE: WOW! We already have almost 90 people signed up and it’s only been a couple of days. Ute and I are over the moon!! Remember, sign ups end January 13th – hope you’ll join the fun if you haven’t signed up already!