My favorite aspect of marking the new year doesn’t involve the actual turning of the calendar.

It comes a few days before, when my family gathers to work on traditional Japanese New Year’s preparations.

We have been making mochi and kadomatsu — “gate pine,” bundles of pine branches and bamboo — at my grandma’s house for as long as I can remember. My family has photos of my cousins and I covered in potato starch as our little hands attempt to form the flattened mounds of steamed and pounded glutinous rice that are the basis of our New Year’s celebration.

These practices become even more meaningful as the years go by. I never skip mochi-making day, because in a crazy world with so many distractions it’s an important way for me to remember my roots.

We fill an entire day preparing for New Year’s. In addition to mochi and kadomatsu, family members tackle projects like assembling flower arrangements for relatives’ homes.

My mochi-making role has shifted over the years from young novice to, well, experienced novice. My auntie and grandma run the show, but every year I take on a little more responsibility.

Despite a lifetime of making mochi, it’s never easy to handle a fresh mound of steamed, pounded rice. We use ingenious two-step rice cookers that complete the prep work for us, and the final product can scald if one isn’t careful.

Transforming the large pile into more manageable pieces requires “cutting” the dough with your hands, then pinching the resulting small lumps just so — with hands dusted with potato starch to prevent sticking — until the tops are smooth and crease-free. It sounds easy, but after three decades I still get corrected on my form.

Another part of the day centers on assembling the kadomatsu. Fancy versions are available in stores, but nothing beats the satisfaction of creating them from scratch.

Plus, the process involves me climbing a tree. Someone has to cut down the pine branches, after all.

I became the go-to pine trimmer a few years ago when my family decided I was ready to wield a sharp object 10 feet off the ground. The childhood tree-climber in me still gets a little giddy every time I prepare to hoist myself up.

Our kadomatsu method involves finding similar-size trimmed pine branches — no easy feat — and then pairing them with thin bamboo stalks my grandma has grown in her yard for ages. The search can be almost meditative, ending in satisfaction once twin branches are found.

While the mochi lasts only a few days, kadomatsu stay up all year. Each family gets at least one pair of branches to frame doorways and usher in good luck and prosperity.

I may be older now and more stressed out than ever, but our annual tradition never fails to bring some calm and happy anticipation for the year to come.

“She Speaks” is a weekly column by the women writers of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Reach Celia Downes at cdownes@staradvertiser.com.