Be ready to learn from around you. Curiosity = adventure. And when you’re curious, there’s no room for judgment.


17



Go to movie Star Wars


12



Treat your subordinates as if you’ll be working for them someday.


21



Water park for fifth birthday


10



Sometimes when you win, you lose. And when you lose, you win. Meaning that sometimes when you get what you want it doesn’t work out well. And sometimes wonderful things happen as a result of a failure or disappointment. Chin up. There’s a million paths to happiness and fulfillment. If one doesn’t work out your will find another.


12, 21



Don’t waste your life’s purpose worrying about what other people think about you.


12, 15, 21



“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” - Winston Churchill


16, 21



Start a tradition of setting goals for Ne Year. Keep a notebook in with the Christmas ornaments and each year we all add in whatever we want to focus on: such as our resolutions, goals, hope or plans, etc. That will be something fun to do at the end of the year when we’re taking down the tree and putting away all the holiday stuff.


8



Paradoxical Commandments by Kent Keith.


19



When you meet someone for the first time try to clear your mind of any assumptions about physical appearance. Race, gender, age, handicap/disability, etc.


17, 21



Anyone who asks you to violate your values doesn’t deserve your allegiance.


16, 21



My mom did laundry twice a week: Tuesdays and Saturdays. She separated colors! It never piled up and we all had clean clothes. I do laundry daily, it's never done and we can't find what we need. Ask Grandma what was her secret to the science of laundry. Because it's now your job to do all your own laundry!


14



Action is the antidote to anxiety.


12, 14, 17, 21



Show up. Be there when people are counting on you. Be at the celebrations and the funerals. Be at work and school when you're supposed to be.


12-19



change the wifi password often. Hold it hostage until chores are done. Work first, play later.


9-14



Start playing Jokers and Marbles. Get it on Amazon or Etsy.


9



Pray for the courage to be yourself.


10, 13, 15, 17, 21



It matters more “how” you go to college than “where” you go to college.


16



Don’t be a dick.


21



Practice staying calm under pressure. The pop-up game “Perfection” is a fun way.


10, 12, 15, 17, 21



Teach them about shaken baby syndrome.


13



Practice “doing without” (or “going without.”). Even young kids can learn the concept. Nobody get everything they want. Sometimes it’s harder than others, but it’s not the end of the world when we have to do without something we want.


4-11



Don’t let someone have to tell you twice that they don’t want you. Nothing good comes from hanging on after that.


15, 21



Trying to avoid the real work makes the task 100 times harder. Do the work.


9, 15, 21



Your life is way bigger than one relationship. Or one grade, or one job, or one choice, or one event, or one gift. Make room for all of it even when some of it will most certainly hurt.


17



Train for a mini-triathlon together as a family this year.


12



Caps Game this year.


11



Best take on parenting: “My kid is never gonna not feel safe with me.”


1, 5, 10, 15



Say it early and repeat it often, so that it sinks way down deep: There is nothing you could do to make me stop loving you. No mistake, no failure, no decision, nothing. There is no hole so deep that if you fell into it I wouldn’t climb down to help you out of. I love you no matter what.


7