Hello 2024!

Even though I don't like big parties and rarely hit the town to celebrate, New Year's Eve is one of my favorite holidays.  I like that it's not a religious holiday, that no gifts are exchanged, and that you can make of it what you wish.  Go out, stay in, dress up, wear your jammies; no one expects anything, so whatever you decide to do is just fine.  But I also love the colors generally associated with this event.  Silver and gold are not colors I see or use the rest of the year but there's something about NYE that makes me reach for a bit of glitter.  So once Christmas had been celebrated I took down some of the red and green decorations and put up some silver and gold ones. 

Ray and Paula came for dinner, bringing some Hackleback caviar and homemade blinis which joined a New England Lobster Dip and some shrimp cocktail, so the appetizers were real treats. Our wonderful next door neighbors Jack and Cathy joined us for drinks before they headed home for dinner, and our dinner was a prime rib roast which the gentlemen cooked perfectly.  For dessert we had a gorgeous Black Bottom pie that Paula makes on special occasions.  A good time was had by all and I think we were all home and in bed well before midnight.  

 I enjoyed decorating the table with festive gold and silver odds and ends I had around from my old days of decorating the middle school library where I worked after retiring from the Library of Congress. 

Aren't these lovely?  The rose was the closest color I could find to gold. 

I had such a good time New Year's Eve that I had to force myself to get up the next morning so I could get my weight lifting done before a late morning hike with Ben and our friend Lotus.  It was a 5-miler and very beautiful, but it about did me in.  When we finished the hike we had a pleasant late lunch with Lotus at home, after which I took a nice hot bath, got into my cozy "at home" clothes, and relaxed until bedtime.    

Adobe stock photo

Like many people I think about making resolutions for the new year, and I find that most of them are to "keep on keeping on" with good habits I've already made.  But a new one is to change my morning routine so I keep off the computer for an hour or two.  I've been waking up early and "reading my phone" for quite a while, checking the news and social media before I get out of bed and get going.  I've decided that's not a good use of that time. So if I feel like staying in bed I'm going to read on my Kindle instead.  And if I feel like getting up and actually doing something I'm going to do that.  News and social media can wait till the afternoon when my energy level is running down.