Ready or Not: Here It Comes--New Year 2014!

Here we are at that crossroads of our lives once more.  An event called New Year's. The time for reflection, for taking care of regrets, for looking forward in a positive way. All this can be hard to achieve, as alas, the passing of time trumps our wishes of holding onto cherished memories and people, too.

A beginning of sorts, the holiday may as well have fledgling birds and apple blossoms, so full of renewal it can and should be. We wish for an array of changes, don't we?  Loss of weight. Readjustment of attitudes.  New goals.   Happier of times.  And on and on it goes.

But what really matters in this exercise?  For me, it speaks to growth. Very much like a chrysalis, we long to shed our skin and begin anew. And we have the opportunity to do so, spurred on by the Season and our own expectations.


My own wishes for the coming year are, of course, for continued good health, and the same happy relationship with my family and friends.  But I'm also looking forward to successful and rewarding writing, to fulfilling work with my two writing critique groups, for a richness in my blogging life.

What about you?  The hour for introspection is here. Do you have many wishes?  Or one that you're hoping against hope will be fulfilled?   This ritual is part of what makes us human. I look forward to performing it each year, and this one is no exception. You?

A New Year's Eve, Unplanned

Happy New Year's Day to you all!  Today is a quiet one for me, packing up the beach condo and leaving for Tampa later this evening.  No lingering memories of a lovely New Year's Eve party, no gathering up champagne bottles to be recycled, no pesky stains on a favorite tablecloth waiting to be tackled--once again.  My New Year's Eve was of a different nature this year.  And it was just fine. 

Leah and Paige
(And Lucy)

My family and I spent the last of the holidays with our son and his family in Los Angeles.  Every moment of it was wonderful.  Our two granddaughters, Leah and Paige, were and are so much fun and uplifting in every way.  We reveled in being together, entertained in their beautiful new  (old) house and felt valued to have such a family.

Uncle Brian, Paige, Leah

  At the end of our time, I had a sniffle or two, but it was the holidays, after all.  Our daughter-in-law, Ali, an emergency room doctor, called in a prescription--to be sure.  And was she right!  No details, but I feel terribly sorry for the people sharing the plane with me...

As to holiday plans, they evaporated like the holidays themselves.  My husband and Louie, our Shih-Tsu and Bichon mix puppy and I sat on the sofa and watched an old film  (not quite sure Louie understood the nuances).  We opened a bottle of Prosecco, a gift from a friend, and shared it.

Louie

All this to say my New Year's Eve was a good one, even though unanticipated.  A sinus infection is just that, nothing serious or life threatening.  One recovers and moves on, and so I am blessed.  With good health, a loving family and fine and constant friends.

I wish the same happy situation for all of you.  Here's to the best of 2013!    

Our New Year's Eve First Footer

We are a very Scottish family.  Each New Year's Eve (or Hogmanay in Scotland) we give a party, and many of the men dress in kilts.  Haggis is served, and there is never a scrap left.

My cousin, Tim, who lives in Boston, always attends the party and introduced us to the Scottish tradition of first-footing.  The custom says if the first visitor who arrives at your house after midnight of the new year is a tall male with dark hair, good luck will follow you for the next twelve months.  This gentleman also must bring gifts with him.  He usually brings scotch (no surprise there), salt, bread and always coal. 

Tim, who fortunately for us, happens to be tall with dark hair, follows this tradition slavishly.  Just before the stroke of midnight, he leaves our house by the back door, braving cold and sometimes snow, and knocks at the front door.  Quite ceremoniously, he presents us with a bottle of single malt scotch, salt, a loaf of bread and a cachet of coal.  The problem, of course, is the coal.

Prior to his debut first footing evening, Tim began searching Boston for a lump of coal.  He thought it would be easy to tuck it into his suitcase and go.  This was not to be, as no one had just a lump of coal.  If anyone sold coal at all, the smallest amount was fifty pounds.  Tim searched the greater Boston area for coal sold in smaller amounts.  There were no smaller amounts.  Fifty pounds.  Take it or leave it.  He chose the former and drove to his condo, richer by fifty pounds of coal.

That was four years ago.  Tim now has forty five pounds of coal in his condo, tucked away in a closet.  As long as our New Year's Eve party continues, there is hope of his coal's diminishing bit by bit.  If not, perhaps he may want to have an A Christmas Carol party that features the reformed Ebenezer Scrooge who burns the stuff all at one go. 

Happy New Year/Hogmanay to you all!