Happy New Year!

Here's to a wonderful new year of old and new traditions, happy times with friends and family, and the hope that a new year brings. New Year's Day has always been a bigger deal to me than New Year's Eve. I have written before about my upbringing on a farm. On New Year's Eve, my parents and we children would cluster around the black and white TV and see the old year out and the new year in with Guy Lombardo. On New Year's Day we would have a big dinner, much like Thanksgiving and Christmas, and invite relatives to join us. It was a nice way to begin the many new years that we shared as a family. I miss those New Year's Day gatherings. The hustle and bustle of getting the dinner ready by noon, or one o'clock at the latest . . . farmers eat at regular times, even on holidays . . ., the warm yeast rolls just out of the oven, the relish tray filled with home-canned pickles, cauliflower, beets and other delights, The huge dishes of mashed potatoes, hubbard squash, fresh applesauce, cabbage salad -- never coleslaw -- , a ham or turkey, and my mother's scalloped oysters, followed by lemon meringue pie, mincemeat pie and pumpkin pie. After dinner there was a card game in the kitchen for the men and canasta in the dining room for the women. And later on, there might be time for the ladies to get their handwork out and do some crocheting or knitting or sewing little stuffed pincushions in cute animal shapes. I loved watching them and learning from them. Their hands were never idle and I was the happy recipient of so many things that their hands made for me.


Of course, the glitz of a New Year's Eve party always looked appealing to the little farm girls sitting on the floral-patterned rug in front of the big TV in our living room. As I got older I attended a few of those kinds of parties, and while it was fun to dress up and toast to the new year, it never gave me the same feeling of contentment as those New Year's Eves and New Year's Days on the farm. And living in Western New York means you may end up wearing a down parka over your glamorous sparkly dress and carrying your pretty high heels in your hands while you trudge through the snow in your ugly boots with lug soles. It can be pretty cold and snowy on December 31st and it kind of takes away from the dramatic feeling of making a grand entrance when you walk into the party bundled up like you are going on the the Iditarod Trail!

If you would like a closer look, click on the photo.

Happy New Year Wreath

Whatever way you celebrate this new year, I hope it is spent doing something that gives you a feeling of contentment. I have learned it is okay to celebrate and commemorate special days in my own way, with my own traditions and rituals. If you have special new year's traditions or stories you'd like to share, I'd love to hear them!


As always, I hope you and those you love are happy and healthy. Your questions and comments are welcome and if you comment here on my blog, or on Facebook, I will respond. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post today and, until we meet again, may the Lord bless you and hold you in the hollow of His hand.


Emmy