A new year and a new challenge!!

 Happy New Year everyone!!!

Well, another new year has passed and another school term has started. I can't quite believe it's 2026 already. I mean this year I turn 50!!! Scary!!!

This year a couple of friends and I made 2026 Bingo cards. I have made some fun things to put on mine and I am ready for a year of fun with family and friends. So let's have a look at it - 

Of course, being me, I had to design it and laminate it!!! And what I want to do is take a little photo of every one and end up with a bingo card of photos and memories instead of activities. 

So what is on my list?

• Make a quilted craft - I got a sewing machine from my wonderful hubby for Christmas so I really want to start to learn how to use it and eventually I want to make a lovely quilt for our bed. So to start off, I'm going to try to make a wee quilted craft!
• Go for a hike - I am not an outside girl! I mean when I was at school I did complete my Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award successfully, but since then my health and my weight has had a negative impact in me doing anything remotely outdoorsy, so I'd love to actually go for a hike out in the Mournes this year! We'll see how we go!
• Read 13 books - now everyone who has seen this Bingo card has asked me why 13... well because it's 2026 and I don't think I would be able to read 26 books... so I split it in half!! I am going to go for one a month, with an extra one over the summer! I am NOT in competition with my bff because she literally has read more than 13 books already and it's only the middle of January!!!
• Go on a date night - we have 4 kids and have been married for 25 years so we decided this last year that we would make these a priority. My actual goal is to do one a month, but I only put one on my bingo card so this has to be a properly planned and properly fancy one!
• Try a new soup recipe - I make potato and leek soup and it is delicious. But that's it! I have never successfully made another soup - including vegetable soup! Honestly - the last time I tried it was disgusting! So I put this on the list to learn something new and hopefully it will be a success!

• Read the whole Bible - I have always put this on my lists (official and unofficial) but never completed it. I mean there are plenty of books in the Bible that I have read plenty of times but some I have never read. Well, my son decided to do a challenge of reading the Bible in 30 days, so I decided to try it as well... it sounds hard (it is!!) but it is supposed to give you a full overview of the Bible as one story. I did start off well - but 10 days in I have decided to do it slightly differently. I am doing my own private study throughout the week and then continuing the overview over the weekend. I hope this will help me to continue getting closer to God as well as helping me read the whole Bible. I'll let you know how I go!
• Serve at LB Kids - this is something I do anyway, but I love doing the summer Bible week and we also have a special day at half-term at Halloween. This year we are hoping to also do a special day at Easter. It is something I feel passionate about but it can be hard too when you have to be high energy for 5 days in a row!! So I put it on my bingo card so that I could make sure I prioritise it!
• Declutter the bedroom - I am sure a lot of people have some part of their houses that they want to declutter - well, my whole house needs done! BUT I am going to concentrate on my bedroom in order to make it a mini sanctuary for us. At the moment we have boxes on top of the wardrobes and too many clothes in them... so I need to declutter and get rid of a lot of stuff!!
• Take a pottery class - my bff turned 50 last year so I made her 5 vouchers for her birthday. One of these is to take a pottery class together so we still have to complete this one. She is very creative so I wanted to take her to do something she hasn't tried before. This should be really fun!!!
• Watch 13 films - one of my boys really loves going to the movies so we both got an Omnipass that we could go together. This is a pass that lets you watch every movie once. It is great - we just keep forgetting to check what's on and so haven't really gotten the use out of them. But this year will be one that we use them properly - hopefully!!!

• Write a blog post each month - this is an obvious one - and at least I've started it off right! I used to love doing this blog, and this year, with me reading the whole Bible and also doing a Baptist Women Bible study online,  I really want to really think more about each of these and write some of those thoughts down. 
• Get my hair done - I really need my hair done. Really! Like the last time I got my hair done was last summer for my niece's wedding, so that's a whole 18 months back! So I really do need to get my hair done. I have a wedding coming up this year so I need to figure out what I am going to get done with it, so I can prepare for it. 
• Take a trip somewhere - I love putting this on my bingo card each year. And the best bit - I don't have any trips planned yet so I have no idea where I will end up going - if anywhere! I love travelling, whether it's worldwide or just in Ireland, so I'm happy either way!
• Have an afternoon tea - this will be a fun one. We love afternoon teas and are compiling a list of the best ones. Having a big birthday this year I'm hoping to get to one or two - and having friends that also have big birthdays, I'm even more certain that at least one of these will be happening this year!!! I'll let you know when and where it is!
• Go to a concert - again this is one of those ones that I have already planned - actually I have two planned - but I made this vague so that if any are cancelled etc I can still complete it. I am very excited about both so I really do hope they both go ahead as planned... again I'll keep you informed!

• Try a new dinner recipe - are you sensing a pattern? I make the same dinners every single week - mince and potatoes, chilli, burgers and chips. steaks, chicken dinners, fajitas, an Ulster fry and pasta. As much as my boys get fed up eating the same food, I definitely get fed up making it! So I really want to try some new recipes and make a 'Love this' recipe book that I can pass on to future generations of Nixons!
• Have a spa day - this one I already have planned and I can't wait! I have a lovely spa day with my wee sis planned as a birthday pressie for her, and I am very excited that she invited me to do it with her! 
• Lose 3 stone - oooh this will be a hard one! I am about 6 stone overweight and have been for years, but I have a wedding coming up that I really want to lose weight for so I am truly motivated for once. I need to lose weight for my health and longevity but having an occasion coming up really does help keep you going. I am going to document it here as well so you'll have a front row seat of my successes and failures!
• Make a will - our eldest is a solicitor so I'm really embarrassed that we haven't done this yet but we have just kept putting it off. So its on the list to be finally crossed off for once and for all!!!
• Send 12 letters - I loved writing letters when I was younger. I recently found a box of letters that I had been sent - most in reply to ones I had written first. I didn't even know who some of the people were. Obviously I had known them at one point - people I'd met on a BYE team, friends I'd met at camps or on holidays - but it was just lovely to read the letters even if I didn't remember them! There is just something so lovely about receiving a letter in the post, so I want to send one each month for this year. 

• Go to a show - another 'planned' one which I left vague enough that we can do it a number of ways! I got a couple of things in the pipeline so I'm excited to see which one I use to mark this off!! I may have to make a teeny tiny pic collage!!!
• Try a new treat recipe - my last foodie one and of course its for treats! I'd love to finally master a good cookie recipe, or a great brownie recipe or even a fabulous chocolate cake that I can just whip up without using a box mixture when we have guests coming. I may be trying to eat healthier this year but boy-oh-boy I'm going to enjoy trying this!!!
• Meal out for Karen's 50th - my final part of Karen's birthday present, I told her to pick the restaurant and we'll go fancy dining!! So I am excited to see where we end up. There are so many amazing sounding restaurants in Northern Ireland - we may even end up trying a couple!!
• Ben's wedding - this one brings on the tears like nothing else!!! My eldest son is engaged to the most amazing young woman, Hannah, and they are getting married at the end of this year!!! I am both extremely excited and extremely emotional about this. I am so happy for them - they suit each other so well and are just so lovely together - but I am so excited to see what God has in plan for them as they begin their lives together. The other half of me is very teary about my first child making his way into proper big style adulting - yes I know he is a solicitor and has a proper adult job already... but I mean proper bill-paying, live in your own house adulting. It's scary that I have a child that old already! So this is definitely going to be a big one for me to mark off - and I can't wait to share it all with you early next year!!!
• I turn 50!!!!!! - how did this happen? How am I that old? What on earth? I definitely don't feel almost 50... but then again I don't feel 21 either! Life is really strange because one minute your head is thinking about getting a job and a husband and then next you're 25 years married and have been working in the same place for 11 years, after having 4 kids! It is totally scary! And my brain doesn't' feel any different! It scams me into thinking I can do things ( like walk up the stairs with a skip and a jump) only for my almost 50 year old overweight body to scream NOOOOO!! But yeah - I am now old so I am going to embrace it so I'm looking forward to having a year of celebration and fun!!! 

So yeah - that's my list for this year! I really am excited to try to complete it this year focusing on connection and experiences and fun! What would you have on your 2026 Bingo card?