I debated doing a recap of 2025 but I will forget things. But, I figured this was a good way to wrap up touching on my December goals, my 2025 goals, and a look at the progress of my 101-1001 day goals. In the coming weeks I'll post my 2026 goals and January goals. Trust me, I know, you c.a.n.n.o.t. wait - can you? LOL
First up is a quick recap of my December Goals:
1. Have all gifts purchased and wrapped by December 20th. This was done AND on time. Well, technically I had a couple gifts arrive after the 20th but that was out of my control.
2. Plan Nate's birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese. It's not that much - really just pick the date and reserve the space. Almost . . . we have the date picked, I just have to talk to two parents to make sure the date works for their kids then we will invite the others. I hope to have this reserved by the first week in January.
3. Take a couple boxes of books to Baker Bookhouse to sell. This is moving to January at this point - the biggest reason is just because I haven't been into Grand Rapids to drop the boxes off as of yet.
4. Continue with my current "habits" - Swish and Swipe, Making my Bed, The "resets" (Monday Morning, a quick walk through at night, and a weekly blessing hour), Taking out the trash from all rooms on Wednesday, and finally sticking to the laundry schedule. Done
5. Organize the garage. I'm not focusing on a deep clean but rather just organizing what is there for now. The complete clean-out needs to wait for spring when it is a little warmer! Well, snow hit early and hard so the goal became - clean it up enough to park the car in the garage and THAT happened HA! so Done!
6. Read my advent Devotional. I started strong but then let it slide.
7. Review my 101-1001 goals - I had some that I was hoping to get done this year; so check my progress and see if I can wrap any other goals up by the end of the year. Oddly enough, I never did this.
8. Scrapbook - my goal is to be able to scrapbook every single day over Christmas break. I haven't decided what my main project will be but I'd really like to finish 2011 and 2025. Not done. Our break was kind of busy with gatherings and get togethers. Plus with the holidays in the middle of the week I never seemed to have a block of time to work. I know, excuses.
9. I have 2-3 bins that hold all kinds of Co-op supplies. I plan to sort through them all, organize it, get rid of what I will never use, and try to use up supplies this next semester without buying new! Moved to January
10. Plan the first 2-3 weeks of both of my co-op classes Not Done
11. As I'm writing this at the beginning of December, it makes me a little sad to type this one BUT . . .. undecorate for Christmas inside and outside by December 31st. The same way I decorated - literally one bin a day. This did not happen - my teens had a Christmas Party with friends on the 30th so I knew it wouldn't come down until January.
12. Write my resume (in case the perfect work from home or super simple part time job happened to drop in my lap that would fit perfectly into my schedule with my guys) Not done - moved to January
13. Write my 2026 Goals including picking out my 12 piano songs to learn and 6 songs to sing at church. I would like to copy them and put them all in a binder so instead of having a bunch of books hanging out on the piano I will just have my binder. My goals are written but I haven't picked out songs yet.
14. Pick out these three things for January: 1 nonfiction book (I have a bunch saved in my Amazon "book list" to choose from), 1 verse for January - and write it out on an index card to hang in the kitchen and on my bedroom mirror and the first writing scripture list (I'll explain this more when I write my 2026 goals) I have my book picked out and scripture writing printed. I need to write out a verse still.
15. Write a "honey do list" for Darryl :-) LOL I have a short list of things that are not in my wheelhouse; Darryl is really great at fixing things and putting things together. I always chalk it up to being left handed - everything is backwards! (Plus I have no patience for some things ha!) Not done yet
My last goal? Simply to enjoy the season. Enjoy the traditions, listen to Christmas music, enjoy our Grinch Calendar with the teens, find a few Christmas things to do together. I want to savor December and not get lost in the rush of commercialism. The lights, the Joy, the true reason for the season - Jesus. THIS I did! I enjoyed the moments, the laughter, and just being together.
Now for a quick look back at my 2026 goals:
1. Combine Flylady with Declutter 365 to declutter and deep clean my house. - I realized about 3 months in that the Flylady website was not being updated daily so I instead created my own lists/plan and monthly goals; I also realized that the Declutter 365 calendar doesn't really match my house. So, I did complete this but just not exactly as stated.
2. Clean, declutter, organize, paint (as needed) the basement. Done! Well, phase one. About 6 months in I realized that this needed to be done in phases. So, phase one, I did a quick clean. I sorted, got rid of the easy things, and put things that I needed to think about/find a home for in bins and set them aside. The basement is so much better and the guys have a music studio now set up AND friends can go down with them to play music. 2026 I'll tack phase 2.
3. Do the twice yearly (spring and fall) cleaning out of the garage – empty it, clean it, fix things, and return only what we need/use. Nope :-)
4. Finish the odds and ends in Joshua’s room (specifically painting his closet and hanging up his things). He is not motivated to do this HA! I'll keep trying in 2026
5. Do a yard clean-up in the spring AND in the fall. Cut back weeds, clean out corners, set up a sitting area, etc. (Make the yard useful and then clean) In the spring I did work on clearing things out; then the hottest summer every happened. Blah.
6. Get the washer fixed and clean out the dryer vent. My washer was fixed in March (i believe) and the dryer vent will go on Darryl's to do list!
7. Replace burned out light bulbs (Kitchen, outside, downstairs)
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j8. Cut the cord on cable and then figure out the best ways to watch the few shows/sports we love. (Goal – to save money). We did make some changes to impact our bill but we need to revisit this
9. Attend free concerts this summer – Worship on the Waterfront and at Maranatha. We made it to 2 concerts at Maranatha but none at WOW this year.
10. Prepare a Will of some sort and also find out all of the details about my mom’s things/wishes. I did research and plan to finish this up in 2026; I also need to go over things with my mom still
11. Go on one date a month with just my husband (no teenagers HA!). Yes! It does help that my teens have good social lives so we end up with free nights or go out on Wednesdays during youth group.
12. Plan one family activity a quarter (at least). I know we did at 3 of the 4 quarters.
13. Personal - but I did not accomplish it HA!
14. Read 70 books this year. Yes! I think I finished 128 books that I recorded. I know I read 2 others that I did not due to not feeling comfortable enough with the content to recommend them. I also did not finish 2-3 books because, well, they were boring HA!
15. Do my daily Bible Study, prayer journal and word study (Worship). Touch and go. I did better in the 2nd half of the year.
16. Scrapbook – lots – and lots. (Including finding the completed pages of 2017-2018 that I can’t seem to find). I did not scrapbook nearly enough this year! (I found the pages …. Well the reason i couldn't find them is because i hadn’t done them —- i found all of the photo’s I printed 
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I 17. Completely clean out my filing cabinet and fire box – reorganize all the paperwork. Done!
18. Co-Op things – plan my classes, update documents and then put them somewhere (Google Docs) that anyone can access. (Planning for the future when my kids have graduated) This is really moved to 2026/January.
19. Learn three piano solos. I had good intentions HA!
20. Sing solos 4 times in church. Same as above
21. Update my home seasonally: Add small décor items; find scents that match the seasons; buy flowers periodically just because. I did do this in 2025 but it is not on my 2026 list.
22. Buy and hang curtains in my Living room (it has been like 7 years since I took the old ones down – it is time HA!) they are purchased !!!! I did purchase dome but was not happy with them when I got them so I returned them and never bought more. So this moves to 2026
23. Attend a few fun sporting events with the family: Options include The Whitecaps, The Tigers, Michigan Panthers (UFL), etc. Darryl and Josh went to a Tigers game.
24. Visit at least one Zoo (Joshua specifically has asked to see Penguins). Options include John Ball, Boulder Ridge, etc.We did go to Anderson's and Girls but did not see Penguins)
25. Complete at least half of my 25 goals listed here I didn't count but I think so. HA! Or at least I FEEL like it counts.
Finally, if you would like to see the progress I've made on the 101-1001 goals feel free to click HERE.
My 2026 goals are inspired by my 101-1001 goals with hopes that I can mark many items off my list.
So, I fully understand that setting goals/resolutions is not for everyone but it is something I truly enjoy. :-)
