Honestly, I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions anymore. What seems like a great idea on December 30th (when real life is on pause for a week) often loses its do-ability around the sixth of January.

Or sooner.

But I love the time of reflection and resolve that naturally occurs with the beginning of a new year.  As I think about what I want to do differently, it helps to focus on things that I can put into motion right away.  

Things I can put in place while life is slow that will change how we live when it speeds back up.

Resolutions/Goals/Whatever-You-Want-to-Call-Them

#1: Be More Hospitable

This one is always on my list. We’re social people, energized by connections with friends. But life gets going, the house gets “lived in” and too much time passes without bringing others into our home. There is one thing, however, that is guaranteed to light my fire, get the house clean, and ensure there’s a hot meal ready to serve.

A doorbell.

If I know the time when my doorbell will ring, things happen. Friends come over, we laugh, and I’m always glad I went through whatever it took to be willing to open my front door.

So what can do today that will make all this happen? Look at my calendar and pick up my phone. It takes five minutes to text (or even call!) two or three of those people we’ve been meaning to have over for dinner. Mark down some dates, and this resolution is well on its way to being met.

#2: Be a Fun Mom

I love it when my kids get crafty. I just don’t love it when their bursts of creativity happen in a moment when we don’t have time to unearth the stack of recycled paper or the package of popsicle sticks I know I stuffed somewhere.

Filling a kid-accessible shelf with scissors, markers, glue and duct tape means my kids know just where to go when inspiration strikes. (It also creates a home for those random items.)

An hour of fun-and-focused supply-gathering today means hours of spontaneous creativity can happen in the future.

#3: Feed My Family Home-Cooked Meals

Oh, the guilt that creeps into my Mommy Soul when life gets crazy and the drive thru starts to feel way too familiar. I’m passionate about eating together as a family every night, but sometimes gymnastics and baseball and church activities combine to make it almost impossible to spend any leisurely time in the kitchen.

I’ve found my own version of freezer cooking to be the solution that allows me to get home-cooked meals on the table in minutes. We aren’t casserole-a-holics around our house, but if I will take an hour or three to brown a jumbo pack of ground beef or bake two cookie-sheets full of chicken breasts, future meal-prep is significantly simpler. Once the meat has cooled, I bag it in meal-sized portions to freeze. This lets me skip the time-consuming and messy step of cooking the meat for most meals.

A few hours (or less) of work today, and my big, daunting resolutions seem significantly more realistic. What resolutions can you check off your list today?