Ringing in a New Year with Reflections, not Resolutions 

We’ve rarely started a New Year with a series of goals or promises that will end up tattered and forgotten on the pages of February's calendar. Instead, the New Year is about renewing our focus on the same goals and promises we always adhere to.  

 The New Year can be a fresh start in the sense that it allows us the time to truly hit pause. Giving our team the week off between Christmas and New Year’s Day is a tradition we hold dear. The holiday season is busy (personally and professionally) and taking the week to recharge and spend time with our families is restorative and freeing in the best sense.  

 This pause also invites reflection - a re-commitment rather than an onslaught of new overly ambitious objectives that will just be a source of guilt and anxiety later.  The pull of a New Year's Resolution is strong, the same psychology behind beginning a new school year with freshly sharpened pencils and new notebooks. Opening a calendar to blank pages full of promise is an alluring idea - putting you in charge of your destiny for the year ahead. So it is understandable as to how and why the practice of making resolutions is still a wildly popular aspect of the New Year holiday. But it’s also why we, in general, aren’t fans of it. It is a lot of pressure to put on yourself before the year even gets started. 

 It’s easy to see why so many people also start with overly excited ambitions of focusing on their health and fitness after a few weeks of holiday celebrations - we feel a little sluggish and ready for some healthy meals ourselves. 

 Interestingly enough, though, it turns out that our preferred method of ringing in the new year is more aligned with some original historical elements. When Julius Caesar implemented the new calendar (way back in 46 B.C., no less), he effectively marked January 1st as the start of a new year, when, true to Roman principles, it was a time to renew your piety to the gods. He named  January after the god Janus, whose two-faced nature allowed him to simultaneously look to the past and the future.  

 So we begin a New Year instead with reflections, remembrances, and a renewed focus on the same principles and promises we have always held firm to. We look to the past, not only ours but also through the lens of our heritage, to remind ourselves of the traditions, work ethic, and strong pillars our great-grandfather, grandfather, and father set forth and that we proudly uphold today.   

 Of course, the New Year is also a celebration. We have so much to celebrate as we head into our eleventh year of Pappy & Company. To kick off 2025, we are delving into what it truly means to us to live and share a life that began with bourbon. The best way to do that is to slow down and savor, and to allow ourselves to enjoy the small moments of the season and just be. Be with our friends and our family. Eat good food, take long walks, watch the movies we missed during the year, and read the books that piled up on the nightstand. Linger a little longer over dinner and let conversations and laughter set the tone. Embrace the moment and elevate the little everyday moments that mean the most - that is the only true resolution we will make this year. Join us!

Cheers to 2025, 

Carrie, Louise and Chenault