JOY! WELCOME THE NEW YEARS IN! DECEMBER 31, 2025

[Twins' Mom]

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot
In the days of auld lang syne?

Many auld acquaintances here, and new friends this year to boot! We are truly blessed with this community of friends!

We have shared so much over the years, and I thank you for all our friendships, advice, for being there, and for history here.

[blessedw2]

thank you as well d twins! Thank you to everyone!!!

[blessedw2]

Dear Twins posted a lovely PWYC in the ACROSS THE TABLE (for today) HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEN
Joy to a new day and a new year!!!

what are you doing today?

How do you welcome in the new years? Do you have family traditions?

from My dad's side of the family:
sweep the new years in the front door and sweep the old year out.
We don't do resolutions any more: we add what we want to learn or experience in the new years.
we have an awful tradition of eating a piece of herring that is been rubbed in a silver dollar for financial stability.


Britannia:
"The earliest known record of a New Year festival dates from about 2000 BCE in Mesopotamia, where in Babylonia the new year (Akitu) began with the new moon after the vernal equinox and in Assyria with the new moon nearest the autumnal equinox (mid-September). For the Egyptians and Phoenicians the year began with the autumnal equinox (September 21), for ancient Persians it began on the vernal equinox (March 21), and for the early Greeks it began with the winter solstice (December 21). On the Roman republican calendar the year began on March 1, but after 153 BCE the official date was January 1, which was continued in the Julian calendar of 46 BCE.
New Year's Eve celebrations have roots going back 4,000 years to ancient Babylon, who celebrated the new year in late March with an 11-day festival called Akitu, but the specific date of December 31st for New Year's Eve stems from the Roman adoption of January 1st as the year's start under Julius Caesar around 46 BCE with the Julian calendar, a tradition later solidified in the British Empire by 1752."

[blessedw2]

dh and I continuing our work from yesterday - I want to make pasta -
I awoke with a nasty headache but feel better after I took tylonel

[Harriet]

Oh, I hope the headache gets completely well, blessed. ddolder was chatting yesterday about the migraine pressure points (?) of the ear.

lucylee, that's a long cooking time.

The "sweeping out the door" tradition dovetails well into the Cleaning Focus week of porch and entry this week! I'll be porch-sweeping.

Last evening, HRH was asking me out to lunch today. Today he doesn't seem as interested - I'll have to check on that. We do have an errand.

Foods for tomorrow - I have collards waiting in the fridge and black-eyed peas waiting in a can.

Delivery sometime today will be my planner for 2026, delayed but still on time for the year.

[Lady Maverick]

Many auld acquaintances here, and new friends this year to boot! We are truly blessed with this community of friends!

Absolutely agree.

My day is off to a good start. We have some new things happening here as well as the regular doings.

DD14 has her last physical therapy appointment at 1pm today. We will pick her up from DD49 house and take her to the appointment. DD49 told DD14 (in group text) that she should "go home" after the appointment. I do my best to stay out of the relationship between those 2 but I can't help but be disappointed for DD14 that she isn't allowed to stay there for the 2nd week of Christmas break as she thought. No one is surprised .....but she continues to hope and it always seems to be crushed. DS17 has no expectation or hope that DD49 will change. She gave him $50 gift card for Christmas, he was surprised to be remembered.

DS17 started his first "real" job as in 9-5 type of job yesterday working at a oil change & tire shop. Overall, he is pleased after his first day but he is not used to having down time to just sit around and do nothing between customers. My take on this job is it just gives him another life experience and skills. This isn't his forever job, but just something to give him some change in his pocket while he is finishing up high school.

We are about to buy DS17 a vehicle. We have been waiting until he outgrows the foolish ways of teenage driving and his desire to tear a vehicle apart and put it back together with loud sounds (subs and exhaust). I think he is responsible enough now to take care and appreciate having a newer vehicle. He will be limited on modifying it because it would void the warranty. We bought our other kids a vehicle, so this continues the tradition. ANYway, the selection process has been going on for a couple weeks with DS17 and friends test driving all models and options. I think he has a vehicle picked out and we will hopefully be finalizing that process today...or near future.

[MysteryWoman]

Good morning!

Happy birthday to Ken and a belated happy birthday to Twins Dad — I got so caught up in the story of the party preparations that I forgot to send best wishes for the day!

Thanks to Twins and to blessed for a lovely double start!

We are headed to friends P & K for New Year’s Eve. I will be making spinach dip to bring — it went over well last year. DH just got back from the store, and from what he said, this must be Spinach Dip New Year’s — last year, it was hard to find the ingredients; this year, he said, they had an entire rack of pumpernickel loaves and an end cap with Knorr mix and water chestnuts, etc.

DC may or may not join us with their girlfriend. I checked with K to make sure they were welcome, and she said yes, but that L did not seem to be having a good time last year. I am going to try to dissuade DC from coming, given that she said L didn’t feel much like going out. I’ve got splits of champagne and asti that they can take to L’s. As far as I know, DD will be joining us and is looking forward to it.

We have a couple of inches of snow and are expecting more. P said he was planning to send out an email saying that while they’d like to see everyone, folks should not be afraid to beg off given the weather — especially those folks who live in the snow belt. We are less than a mile away, so I am intending to go unless it’s really slippery — and even then, I have to go out, as we are scheduled to run the livestream at church this evening.

I should get that spinach dip going; it’s always better when it has a good long time for the flavors to mingle. Looking forward to reading your adventures! Have a great day!

[Twins' Mom]

LOL, I posted in wrong place this a.m., meaning my post to be the PWYC for today but didn't make myself clear! I'm a moderator without much experience, but I successfully moved my topic into PWYC forum, then merged the two. I need to remember to put that on my list of accomplishments for today! Success! Harriet will be so proud of me!

I'm upstairs, my home is quiet. Life is good.

[CathyS]

Hi!

We went to Walmart this morning as dh said he would like 2 more pairs of the heavier sweatpants that I bought him for Christmas. They had 2 pairs left in his size. He wears an XL in pants, but a 5X in tops. We also bought him a size 11 in slippers because he wears a 10 or 10 1/2 in running shoes. The size 11 slippers are a tiny bit small, plus his feet are swollen from the water he is retaining.

We also went to Burger King for an early lunch.

Now dh has his slippers (mostly) on and his new pants. He keeps calling them pajama bottoms, but they are sweatpants... oh, well...

We also received our Christmas cards from dMIL and DSISIL so we phoned DMIL and thanked her and DSISIIL for the gift cards.

I've taken out the bathroom and kitchen garbage and brought in half a bag of kitty litter. I need to clean 2 litter boxes today.

[Lady Maverick]

Harriet, HRH and Twins - THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOU DO keeping this SHE forum going. You bring joy to my life everyday by providing a safe place for us to gather.