The first thought about a new year

It was the end of the old year, and the beginning of the new year. It was more or less the same as the New Year celebrations that came before. Except it wasn’t, for the little one. It was apparent there were more questions brewing, than were being answered.

With this in mind, it wasn’t a surprise when the conversation turned to the new year’s celebrations. We were returning from another store adventure. While there, we observed an abundance of Happy New Year greetings. Therefore, on the journey home, there was the one burning question.

The first thought about a new year

“What is a New Year?” I was anticipating this. It was in the little one’s reaction, every time he heard the greeting. (The ice cream was not a complete distraction.) Furthermore, the accurate tracking of time, has had his attention more often, since beginning the first grade.

Additionally, a seventh birthday was recently celebrated. A birthday is the same as adding a new year as well. Therefore, this seemed like the better place to begin the answer to the question. Anything about a new year, should be about hope, first and foremost.

We remembered back to the birthday cake just a couple of weeks ago. After the candles came the wish. Then there was cake. At this point, from the rear view mirror, I could tell we were on the right path. There was interest, and the wheels were turning.

A new year

However the question remained unanswered, and the expectation was heavy in the air, in the back seat. The sense that a little one was patiently waiting for clarity, was palpable. Therefore, it was an immediate relief to learn that the Earth has birthdays too.

Although we were unable to precisely reveal the earth’s current age in years, it made sense about an earth birthday. Or a New Year for the earth. This was helpful in understanding why everyone, including strangers, was celebrating. From there, it made sense why there was a big countdown at midnight.

The follow up questions began right away, as more info clicked into place. There was a great amount of hope for a new bike, and more Legos, on his birthday. Consequently it was easy to see why there would be a lot of hope for a better New Year. More Legos meant more robots.

Hope is a powerful thing. Maybe more hope means a happier new year. Wise words from the little one, and I couldn’t have said it better. So I didn’t try. He had the gist of it, and a good first thought about a new year.