A New Year of Hope and Promise

I love the idea of a brand new year stretching out before me, full of hope and promise.

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Today is my dad’s birthday so we invited my parents over last night to eat dinner with us. In recent years I’ve cooked a New Year’s Day meal with a couple of traditional elements:

cabbage – symbolizes economic fortune

black eyed peas – for good luck

I also cooked a small ham which I glazed with a combination of Crown Maple, brown sugar and cinnamon. There was also homemade cranberry sauce, potato casserole, rice, and rolls. My mom brought homemade chocolate chip cookies. It was a nice little feast and a lovely way to start the new year. Chris was here with us for dinner. Lisa and Justin had gone out with friends but came over later so we got to see the whole family on New Year’s Day.

Today we have been just relaxing. David has been playing a video game all day. I’ve been puttering about doing only the occasional small task such as making the bed and ironing cloth napkins. My main goals for the day are to get my new Fitbit charged, set up and figured out, and to empty my email inbox.

We have plenty of leftovers so I won’t have to do any more than heat things up for dinner. If I can tear David away from his game I’d like to watch an episode or two of Downton Abbey. We’ve been re-watching the series as a review before the new – and final – season starts. However, that’s tomorrow night and we still have two seasons to finish. It remains to be seen if we can just record them and hold off until we have finished the old episodes. If you are a Downton Abbey fan would you be able to wait? Leave me a comment – I’d like to know.