Life

There comes a point in your life when you realize:
Who matters,
Who never did,
Who won't anymore,
And who always will.

Celebrating the New Year

My husband and I have celebrated New Year's Eve in so many different ways over the years. Once kids came along it became a bit more of a challenge to really celebrate all that much, but we have always managed to keep the entrance of a new year interesting. Early in our marriage we would enjoy a prime rib dinner. When kids came along we continued that tradition, but didn't stay up to see midnight. The 4th of July and New Year's Eve are my two very favorite holidays. I am terrible at creating traditions for my children since I am such a creature of change and keeping life interesting. BUT, these two holidays are definitely about tradition for me, and I have found ways to keep New Year's Eve interesting all while keeping with my traditions.

Although my favorite New Year's Eves have included parties with friends either at their home or my home, the last couple years have brought us back to early traditions of food and family. For the past two years, we have decided to stay in and just relax with our kids, and make a fantastic surf and turf dinner. And last evening, this is what we did....relaxed and had a grand dinner. As my husband stated, "dear, you out did yourself this year", and I must say, I did.

My husband works extremely hard, harder than anyone I know, even harder than my father did. And New Year's Eve, and even today, he is working. And he will be working all weekend too. So I decided I needed to give him a great meal, better than anything we have ever done before, and a way to celebrate a year of hard work -- for our whole family. I guess we kind of celebrated the fact he is also one of few employees that can say they actually are still working in our difficult economy, and although we are blessed to be able to celebrate, we are definitely without struggles like any other middle-class family today.

Ringing in a New Year has always been a spiritual experience for me in that I reflect on the year behind me and then refresh myself for the journey into the year ahead. Happy New Year!