A Sip of Flava

Between the Years: A 13-Night Intention 📃✏️🕯️

There’s a space on the calendar that doesn’t get talked about much.

The days between Christmas and New Year’s.

Not quite the old year. Not quite the new.

In German tradition, they call it Rauhnächte — the rough nights.

Thirteen nights where time softens, the noise settles, and intention matters more than planning.

This year, I’m stepping into it.

The Tradition

The ritual is simple. And that’s what makes it powerful.

You write 13 intentions — not resolutions, not demands.

Just truths you’d like to live closer to.

You fold them.

Place them together in some you can pull them out of, not revealing what you wrote.

And beginning Christmas Eve, each night you pull one without looking and burn it safely.

That intention is released — not managed, not chased.

It’s handed over.

By the thirteenth night, one intention remains.

That one isn’t burned.

That’s the one you carry intentionally into the new year.

The one you tend with care.

Why I’m Doing This

I didn’t grow up with this tradition.

I learned about it through conversation with a coworker— through listening to talk about what one of she and her mother’s holiday tradition is. 🕯️

And something in me recognized it.

Maybe it’s my German roots whispering.

Maybe it’s the season I’m in — one that values meaning over momentum.

Or maybe it’s simply time to stop gripping so tightly and let some things go.

Not everything needs my hands on it.

A Sip of Truth

I’ve learned this:

Some things are meant to be released.

Some things are meant to be lived.

And only a few are meant to be carried carefully for a full year.

This ritual gives each of those their place.

So this Christmas Eve, I’ll light a candle.

Write my intentions.

And trust the process — one night at a time.

Quietly.

Intentionally.

With gratitude.

Closing Question:

Do you have a ritual that helps you step into a new year with intention — or are you ready to create one?