NEW YEAR

 

BOLDOG UJ EVET

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU!

 

AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

WISHING FOR PEACE

It seems this is an eternal wish, for peace on planet earth seems to never come.  But that is certainly my wish now and for our future on this planet.

There is a song. "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me..."

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

NEW YEAR 2021

original photo by me

Readers,

I want to wish all of you health, wealth, and love in this New Year. 

I'm having a quiet night at home, a couple dogs wrapped in blankets near my feet and some lemon bars and tea.

Though in Southern California, there is snow on the mountains and it's cold. Not as cold as other parts of the country, but cold enough for sweaters and fluffy slippers. 

I've never much enjoyed loud New Years Eve parties, but the main reason for staying home rather than get together with friends is avoiding Covid-19. You may have heard that we are in a terrible crisis here. Like many of you, I seem to be addicted to news reports. The sickness and death is alarming. The hospitals are overwhelmed. The least we can do is stay home and out of harm's way. 

Two of my friends, one in Baltimore, the other in Orange, have had Covid. One had mild symptoms, the other was sick for three weeks. But for me so far so good.

I'm feeling positive about the vaccines but believe it will be spring before I will be eligible to take it myself. And so I suspect my blogging may slow down. 

Our leaders are asking us to avoid even the walks we take for exercise which bring us into contact with others; so if you're feeling a bit crazy with cabin fever, you're not alone.

Outside there are some booms, so somewhere people are trying to make cheer by blasting off Roman candles or fireworks left over from July. As well Christmas lights are decorating houses and apartments all over.

The Christmas tree will remain up a while longer. Usually till the 6th of  January.

I look forward to the day when all is well.

LES BROWN Quotation

Shoot for the moon, because even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.
-  Les Brown

HAPPY NEW YEAR

FROM 1963

WISHING YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR

WISHING YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR

CELEBRATE A NEW YEAR!

A JOYOUS NEW YEAR

END OF THE YEAR IN SIGHT! CERTAINLY THE STORES THINK SO!

This is the point in the year where it seems - almost over.

Halloween and Christmas seasonal items are now on display in many of the stores.

Halloween has become outrageousness and a festival of horror, savagery, and violence, instead of a celebration of the ancestors or a time of prayer for the deceased. 

Christmas has become all about shopping.

Well, I remember what it was to work retail during the Christmas season and I can say that it made the holiday a NON-EVENT FOR ME.  After you've heard the same Christmas songs for weeks,  dealt with a surge of customers who are not always nice, it's not easy to center back to the purpose of the holiday, which is religious.

Although I get it that giving gifts to friends and family is in imitation of the Three Kings who visited Jesus Christ in his infancy,  and that being generous and loving is good, I think even the tradition of Santa Claus, based on St. Nicholas, has become too much a celebration of materialism.

I confess to having been effected by the Hustle Bustle of shopping in years past, but mostly I try to keep holidays to a small, private, celebration these days.  I give few gifts and usually small or home-made ones.  I prefer to celebrate the birthday of a close friend as the time to give a better gift and to  give attention to them as an individual then.  I love music but I don't enjoy loud parties.  I prefer to host a smaller dinner party where people can enjoy conversation and hear each other, perhaps with some low background music on.  Good food, a little wine, and appreciation for what we have, to take a pause, that is a holiday to me.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! BOLDOG UJEVET

HAPPY NEW YEAR

YOU'VE GOT A FEW DAYS TO WRITE DOWN YOUR NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS!

I know that most of us don't actually follow through on most of them, but I think it helps to make that list, to know what it is we really want to do with our lives...  And if we only manage to cut back on smoking, or loose five pounds instead of twenty-five, so we made the effort, and that counts!

Wishing all my readers all the things to wish for...