New Year’s is a time for planning; looking back over the months past, reviewing what worked and what didn’t; and casting your mind forward to the year ahead, setting goals for the next 12 months. Read on for some ideas on setting resolutions with your kids. Whatever your dreams, we wish your family the very best in 2015.

Make it a Family Activity
PBS lays out a plan for the whole family to reflect, set, and track resolutions together.

Set Healthy Resolutions
These guidelines from the American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) have suggested resolutions for every age group.

Print Out and Keep
These printables from thirtyhandmadedays.com provide a simple and colorful shortcut to prompt your kids’ highlights and goals.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

What smells trigger that holiday feeling for you? Having grown up in Ireland, the fragrances that resonate most with me are the tangy, spicy perfume of orange-clove pomanders, exotic and heady incense in the Thurible at mass, the warm and appetizing aroma of spiced beef, and of course the piney-green scent of a real Christmas tree.

Scents evoke memories vividly and powerfully because the part of the brain that processes smells is deeply embedded in the parts of the brain that process memories and emotions. Unfortunately some, but not all, of these smells are re-creatable in Beijing. Thankfully the materials for a pomander are easily accessible in any supermarket here, and this project is simple enough for families to tackle together, even with small children.

Simplebites.net
This how-to is for pomanders you can display in a bowl as a centerpiece. Be aware that because these oranges are less densely packed with cloves they are more likely to mold, so you should place them close to dry heat and turn them often.

Offbeathome.com
Follow these instructions to make a pretty hanging pomander to place in your tree or entrance-way.

JaneAusten.co.uk
While not the prettiest of designs, this project is the most practical, as studding the entire surface of the orange with cloves will help it to dry out and prevent it from rotting. As well as following the step-by-step you can read an excerpt about the history of pomanders in general and the clove-studded orange in particular, (or read a more detailed account here).

Image courtesy of simplebites.net

Want to show your family pet the holiday spirit? This Saturday is your chance at The International Center for Veterinary Services’ (ICVS) annual Christmas Party for Pets and Their People. Even if your family doesn’t have a pet, animal lovers are welcome to come and join in the holiday fun. Party goers can meet the ICVS staff, pet owners and, of course, pets. Special holiday treats and fun for all is expected as ICVS will also be giving out Christmas presents. Gung Ho Pizza, winner of theBeijinger Pizza Cup 2014, will be served at the party.

"The ICVS Christmas Party last year was wonderful! We had over 50 attendees and a raffle draw that raised over RMB 2000 for the ICVS Non-Profit Humane Animal Welfare Programs,” says ICVS founder Mary Peng.

Notably, attendees can win prizes while helping the Beijing animal community as another grand raffle prize draw will be featured this year with all proceeds donated to ICVS’ Non-Profit Animal Welfare Programs. ICVS’ non-profit programs offer low-cost spay/neuter surgeries, trap-neuter-return for stray or feral cats, rabies vaccination drives, vaccination and preventative care packages, as well as medical care and life-saving treatments for shelter animals.

The event is free to attend. Please note that dogs must be on leashes, cats in carriers, and all pets in attendance must be fully vaccinated to attend the party.

Time: 2pm-5pm
Location: International Center for Veterinary Services
Note: Attendees must RSVP by tomorrow Friday, December 12 at ICVS_China@yahoo.com
Contact: For more information, visit www.ICVSASIA.com or Tel:8456 1939 or 8456 1940

Photo: starsandspirals (flickr) and courtesy of ICVS

Taking her inspiration from the motto, “it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness,” Jasmine Chin, the organizer of Get Cozy invites families to enjoy a candle-lit evening of art, music, and warm drinks at Jianghu Bar, near Jiaodaokou Nandajie on November 23. It’s a great pre-Thanksgiving chance to celebrate gratitude and service to others, purchase mementos from the charity sale, or win a prize in the raffle.

All proceeds raised will go the Chi Heng Foundation, a Hong Kong based NGO which assists children affected by AIDS and works in AIDS prevention and education. The charity believes in fostering community solutions to the issues faced by children who have a parent with HIV/AIDS, or who have lost a parent to AIDS, or who have themselves been infected.

The evening kicks off at 4pm with an art session lead by Chi Heng Foundation’s art teachers. The two-hour art session is suitable for children aged four and up. This activity will look at expressing hope through art, and provides a chance for attendees to experience art counseling; a psychotherapeutic discipline that uses artistic expression, such as drawings, essays, or letters, as means of facilitating the expression of thoughts and feelings that an individual may have difficulty verbalizing. The foundation uses art counseling to help children who have been through traumatic experiences, encouraging them to write and sketches about their hopes and aspirations.

This is followed by an open mic session, coffee art drawing demonstration, raffle and coziest-outfit prize giving. (Be sure to wear your seasonal woollies to be in with a chance to win). 

Contact Jasmine Chin at 134 3652 2576 for more information about the event. 

Image courtesy of Jasmine Chin

Following an extensive public consultation regarding the onerous nature of working weekends to make up for holiday periods, the government has released the 2014 holiday schedule (pictured above). Apparently, the public said "we love working weekends!"

Here’s the break-down. First, those of you who thought you wouldn’t be digging too much into your 2014 annual leave by staying away until early January, think again: only January 1 is a day off, and we’re kicking off the working new year on January 2.

For Chinese New Year/Spring Festival, to ramp up for all that jiaozi eating and firework igniting, Sunday, January 26 is a work day, with January 31 the first day off, until February 6. February 8 will be a make-up workday.

A bit of good news: the Qing Ming/Tomb Sweeping Festival holiday will be celebrated with a day off on April 7, with no make-up. Hooray!

The May 1 holiday will be observed, shockingly, on Thursday, May 1, followed by days off on Friday, May 2 and Saturday, May 3. After all that fun, we’re sure you’ll want to be back at work on Sunday, May 4, so that no productivity is lost.

Another bonus: the Duan Wu/Dragon Boat holiday falls extremely early this year, on June 2, so we’ll be off for the normal weekend of May 31-June 1, and then off Monday, June 2, with no make-up.

After slogging through the summer, Zhong Qiu/Mid-Autumn Festival looks suspiciously like American Labor Day this year. The September 6-7 weekend is off as normal, followed by Monday, September 8 off to gaze (or bark) at the moon, with no need to work the following Saturday.

Gearing up for the week-long October 1 holiday, we will first work Sunday, September 28. The holiday is October 1-7 as normal, followed by a working Saturday on October 11.

Most schools have made necessary arrangements to fit these holidays into their 2013-2014 academic calendars by having half term breaks coincide with most holidays so as to maintain school days.

When considered carefully, it’s not the working weekends that are themselves so difficult – it’s that having to work the weekend means you can’t just burn one or two vacation days to extend to the holiday to the following Monday.

This article was modified and the original post was posted on December 12 on thebeijinger

Photo courtesy of cctv.com via thebeijinger