New Year, New Calendar

My love of calendars started very early in life.  I think I actually owe it to my elementary friend Christine Fournier (with whom I’ve long lost touch — holla — wherever you are!) who was the first girl in elementary school to have an actual planner, as I recall she had an At-A-Glance planner, and she’d neatly clip off the corner of each day as it was done.

I made do with inexpensive pocket calendars for a while, writing in such important dates as my ballet classes and Girl Scout meetings, slumber parties and when the next book report was due — color-coded of course.  But it was a joyful day when I finally convinced my mother to let me have my first Day Runner, an honest-to-goodness planner with tabs for more than just months and days of the week as well as an address book, but a project planning section (very important since I was an officer in a service club!) and so much more.  The binder was magenta vinyl and the pages were grey with magenta lettering.  It was pure heaven and my obsession has never left me.

I have tried many sizes and styles, and have since moved on to a FranklinCovey® Blooms style of a planner.  Oh, sure, I’ve tried to convert to a digital version many times, but I just can’t part with my beloved paper planner.  There is something both soothing and satisfying in flipping through the pages, and in literally “pencilling in” an appointment or social engagment rather than just typing it into a phone or computer.  I still use electronic calendars for some purposes, but I synch up with my paper planner.  My only frustration is they don’t release their refill pages for the new year more than a quarter in advance and I often plan much, much further than that — for example in a current volunteer role, I actually need to plan 18 months in advance.  I am sure their customer service people think I am some bizarre calendar stalker as I asked for their 2010 and 2011 pages back in January 2009.

I considered myself quite calendar savvy until I learned my grandfather sat down every January 1 and wrote down all of his appointments for the New Year.  Meaning he figured out how often the cars would need oil changes and approximately when, and wrote those down in the calendar.  He knew when to schedule dental appointments and regular doctor appointments.  He wrote everyone’s birthdays down and then back-timed when to buy cards and gifts and when to send them.  When to perform routine household maintenance.  I was in awe.

So now I try to do the same — I have not mastered the same level of detail he has, but I do try to take my new calendar and note all the holidays, birthdays and important days.  If I have the calendars for school closings, club meetings, etc. I make sure to enter those in.  My children already love calendars, and in addition to the Learning Resources Calendar and Weather Pocket Chart we have on our front door to learn about days of the week, weather, etc., they have a Make Your Own Calendar they get each year for Christmas with stickers to put on for holidays, birthdays, special days and even somewhat ordinary days.

On January 1, in addition to marking up our new calendars, we look at our old calendars and relive some memories as we look at the stickers or written notes from the previous year.  Going through the new year helps us look forward to big events — birthdays, our annual beach trip, anticipated visits to/from grandparents, and even the next Christmas.

Happy New Year!  May your calendar be filled with many wonderful events and memories in 2010!

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