I finally put up my new calendars. A few days late, but who’s counting? I have one of my own, plus a free one from the bank (yes, I love those cheesy beatific photos of my home-county, thankyouverymuch!) and this lovely one from Sarah Ahearn.
The 2010 Birds of the Berkshires Calendar is sold out in my Etsy shop, but you can still be the lucky owner of one of these beauties by entering this contest! (and if you don’t win, I might have a few more popping into the shop soon, but no guarantees!)
To win this 2010 Birds of the Berkshires Calendar, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post, telling me one of your favorite ways to ring in the new year, be it with celebration, tradition, cleaning and organizing, or just hanging up a new calendar.
Entries are open through Friday night, January 8th. There will be one winner, determined by a random number generator.
Good luck!
p.s. be sure to include your e-mail address in the comment form so I can contact you if you win!
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Ah, how I love the Berkshire Birds calendar…
Being from the northwest corner of CT (sometimes considered southern Berkshires..) and an avid bird lover, I saw it and right away loved it. 
So, my favorite way to ring in the new year…honest, I’ve never enjoyed New Year’s Eve…but 3 years ago, my then boyfriend and I started a new tradition of hosting New Year’s Day brunch at our house, and this year we had our 3rd annual brunch…our first as husband and wife, and last before our first child arrives in May. We had over 30 people at our house, inclduing family, friends, and lots of kids. It has become a fun, casual, relaxing way to celebrate the first day of the year. It is fun having our own tradition and is something we hope to continue for many years to come, with more and more people coming every year.
Yay, I love contests!!! Thanks Laurie. I’d say one of my favorite New Year activities (calendar inspired I suppose) is to go to book stores in late January/early February and try to strike gold with deeply discounted calendars. Even if you don’t get one you actually like you get end up with some pretty rockin’ kitty or Harley ones. But maybe if I’m lucky I’ll get one of your beauties. Crossing my fingers!
P.S. I’m bummed I never got to the Yankee swap. It sounded fun.
For me, the new year is about looking ahead, planning and dreaming. I tuck-in with my family to enjoy the short days and long nights of Winter. I spend hours thumbing through new seed catalogs, marking pages, and circling varieties that strike my fancy. I love to make grand plans for my garden (whether or not they come to fruition). I love to make grand plans for painting new colors on my walls and redoing the kitchen, finally. But, really, celebrating the New Year, for me, is less about what I plan to do and more about the possibilities of what I could do.
I love birds and I do not know how I missed seeing this in your shop! I love January — it’s my second favourite month after September. I love planning ahead — it gives me something to look forward to over the winter months. But January/New Year is also about looking back at what I have achieved. The New Year is a built in reflection period and there are so many things I have to celebrate.
Love the Berkshires! And their birds are lovely!
My favorite way to ring in the New Year is with a cheap bottle of champagne and expensive ingredients for making a gourmet chocolate cake. With lots of sprinkles.
I also like to look back at my Pows (bad times/poor decisions) and my Wows (great times/successes).
thanks for the opportunity. For the New Year it usually means having a big clear out (to fit all the Christmas presents in), love getting rid of junk.
Pretty bird calendar! With the start of 2010, I’m planning to sleep as much as I can to catch up on all the missed sleep from December (and November, October, September…pretty much since my son was born in August)!
yay for another chance for the calendar!
we have traditionally rung in the new year (5years now) with a couple who are good friends from PA. we only ever see them on new years now and we actually hardly keep in touch throughout the year—but we always pick right up where we left off. there’s always tons of laughs and we wait the whole night to watch the ball drop while debating how cool or stupid going to nyc on new years eve is.
oh, and a huge congrats on finding out it’s a girl! how fun!
erin@thefinerneiners.com
Birds should be scary. I can’t even tell which one it is, but I would have to go with the nuthatch…
Happy New Year! I look forward to a quiet celebration of the new year each NYW with my husband after we tuck the kids in bed. We get champagne and have special appetizers. On New Year’s Day, I get our my new family calendar and transfer all the birthdays and known celebration dates onto the entire 12 months. I love starting fresh!
I don’t know whether I’ve been to your blog or entered a contest before, but strangely enough, I got an email update from you which led me here. I do not know if someone else entered my email address at some point previously. But you have a lovely site, so I’m happy to land here. Thanks!
My favorite way to ring in the new year is to go on a drive to someplace quiet and beautiful, some years it’s through the desert at night, other times its to the beach in the early morning. The radio is off, the sunroof is open, and I just breathe in fresh air and pray to God for another year full of blessings.
Ooh what a lovely calendar!
I lived in Japan for a few years and a few of the traditions there have become fused to my bones. Have you ever seen the movie Wolverine and the adamantium injection scene? Well, imagine that as Japanese culture minus the traumatic pain. and minus the super powers!
I lived in a very remote area that was pretty traditional, and every year, we would make our homes immaculate and visit a Shinto shrine on the eve of New Years. My favorite part of the New Years preparation involved a bag of dried soybeans. Grabbing a handful of these beans, you’ve fling some outside your front door and say, “Oni wa soto!”, and then you’d grad another handful and say, “Fuku wa uchi!” What you’re basically saying here is “Bad Luck/Stuff/Monster, begone! Good luck, come on in!”
This admittedly made a big mess. I guess that was part of the joy of it. Having a little guy in the house, I can say that many of the most enjoyable things in life make a mess.
I want to be the lucky winner!
I love your work!!!
I love spending New Years with my old high school friends (well, not that old). It’s nice to start each year with something of a blast from the past. We’re able to get together only a couple of times each year, but we know that we’ll be together to ring in the New Year!
Also, lots of noisemakers and music.
This New Year’s was not celebrated in any traditional way because I was really sick and stuck in bed. What I like best about the new year isn’t champagne or late parties anyway. I’m much more excited about putting all of the holiday decor away, super cleaning the house and feeling like I have a fresh start – new goals, new plans (new calendar to keep track of it all?!)
I am SOOO Loving all of your New Year thoughts/traditions/stories — keep ‘em coming!
New Year means a fresh start for me– get a new calendar, write down a list of resolutions and spend time with loved ones.
We usually ring in the new year with some Chinese food. I think this is a tradition I picked up while living in Massachusetts for five years.
Beautiful calendar! I have been itching to buy an artsy calendar. The hummingbird reminds me of the house we currently live in, which the owner matched the paint up to the colors of a hummingbird.
Well as I don’t believe in New Years resolutions I like to instead reflect upon the past year for a moment, see if there were patterns I have yet to break free from, and let my brain marinate a bit to see if now is the time to focus on them. I don’t make a list of things to change, just give myself a moment to listen to myself. I also like to purge my belongings and give away stuff! This week I’m bringing a ton of clothes to the Christian Center, some damn cute clothes too, I hope they bring someone a smile this year.
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