EXCLUSIVE: Hallmark’s Erin Cahill Reveals Her ‘Special Ritual’ to Ring in New Year

Beloved Hallmark star Erin Cahill is ringing in 2025 by giving back, giving thanks and manifesting her future.

Shortly after Christmas, the “Holidazed” star and her husband Paul Freeman (also known as musician Welsh Wolf), headed to the small West African country of Senegal to help build a new school there. Cahill told EntertainmentNOW that their work with BuildOn always fills them with gratitude, which is sure to come in handy while they carry out the “special ritual” they do annually for New Year’s.

Erin Cahill Explains New Year’s Ritual of Reflection & Intention to ‘Complete’ Past Year

In the midst of building a new school from the ground up in Senegal, Cahill told EntertainmentNOW, she planned to carry on her annual ritual of “completing” the year with her husband.

“We have this tradition of on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day,” she said, “sitting somewhere in
nature, or somewhere where we can see nature, and journaling.”

“We write out everything to complete the year,” Cahill explained. “We say what we want to let go of, what we’re grateful for, and what we want to acknowledge, because sometimes you forget to acknowledge yourself. So we really take the time to do that.”

Before writing out their visions and intentions for the year ahead, Cahill said she and Freeman look back at the previous year’s journal entry are often surprised by what they wrote.

“We always go, ‘Oh my goodness! I actually did that. Oh my goodness, that actually happened. Or, okay that didn’t happen, but do I really want that for this next year? You know, it’s really great to just complete it and then create a new year.”

To “create our next year with gratitude,” Cahill told EntertainmentNOW, “We write down what we would like to have happen. We write down who we would like to be and what we would like to offer up and give. So we really like take our time and then we read it to each other. It’s a pretty special ritual.”

Erin Cahill Loves Building Schools to Create ‘Happier Communities’

Getty for HallmarkErin Cahill attends Hallmark Media’s cocktail reception during the Summer 2024 Television Critics Association Press Tour on July 11, 2024.

Meanwhile, Cahill and Freeman are devoting much of their time at the start of 2025 to build their latest school, which will include a literacy program for adults. They have also worked on previous projects in Nepal, Malawi, and Guatemala.

“You know, we don’t have kids,” she told EntertainmentNOW, “and I think I get to pour a lot of my maternal love and energy into these schools. Honestly, I always half joke that (the trips are) selfish in nature, because they make me feel like I’m really using my life to do good.”

Cahill said she loves working with BuildOn because they’re committed to “sustainable and ethical change,” with research showing that third world communities with new schools suffer far fewer deaths, have more educated youth, and are happier overall.

“It also just addresses people’s self worth,” Cahill told EntertainentNOW, “and it creates happier communities. So to me, having the base route of education really addreses so many humanitarian issues, and to be part of that is truly the greatest gift.”