My daughter was born on a
New Year's Eve 24 years ago. The whole word celebrates
on her birthday. It is truly a special time for me. Her
childbirth was fairly easy, as childbirths go. She's
turned into a wonderful person with a great husband,
future and baby on the way (coming in June - watch
BamaBaby.com for details in the future).
Our daughter and son-in-law gave us a gift card to a
very nice restaurant which we plan to use tonight. This
will always be a special day to me
All of you -- please have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
December 30, 2005 -
Friday
We Got a DVR
As
a Christmas present to ourselves, we got a DVR (no high
def TV, just a recorder). Even though we have perfectly
good VCRs and even an "old" DVD recorder, the DVR
appealed to us.
I'd seen it in use at my
daughter's and sister's homes. We found many good
reasons to pay the extra $10 per month. First, it can
hold a LOT of shows at better quality than the others
can do. (It can even record in high-definition if we
need it to.)
Second, recording is very easy -
just bring up a show in the regular cable guide (that
comes with digital boxes) and click a button on the
remote - ta-da! The show will be recorded. If the show
times change, the recorder knows it and will follow.
Third,
no rewinding! Just a few clicks of a button --
and you can fast forward or go back through a show.
Fourth, it is constantly recording even though you can't
tell. When watching a regular show, you can pause or
rewind it to see something - so cool when someone is
talking too loud and you miss a sentence or two.
There's many more good reasons. It finally got to us and
we knew we had to have one. I am already recording Jay
Leno every night.
It's just so much easier than
using anything else and someday we hope to have a big
high-definition TV and there's nothing else that will
record shows in that format. Anyway, we've been using
the DVR for a week or so and just love it. The
recordings are perfect - no loss in quality. This is
worth every penny.
Here in the South, some
people eat black-eyed peas on New Year's Day for luck.
Others believe that food served in the shape of a ring
brings good luck because it symbolizes "coming full
circle," completing a year's cycle.
Here's a
page of other New Year's traditions (scroll down
a ways to see the text). I think many traditions are fun
-- happy memories for a family. Here's another list of
lucky things to eat from
Fabulous Foods:
New Year's Food Traditions
Eating noodles at midnight
is customary at Buddhist temples in Japan.
A German/Pennsylvania Dutch
tradition is to eat pork and sauerkraut on New Year's
day for good luck.
It is a Cuban tradition to
eat 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight. The 12 grapes
signify the last twelve months of the year.
German folklore says that
eating herring at the stroke of midnight will bring luck
for the next year.
Eating pickled herring as
the first bite of the New Year brings good luck to those
of Polish descent.
In the southern United
States, it is believed eating black eyed peas on New
Year's eve will bring luck for the coming year.
Also from the south comes
the custom of eating greens such as cabbage, collard
greens, mustard greens, kale or spinach to bring money.
One more from the
Southerners: eating cornbread will bring wealth.
The Southern custom of
eating greens can be found in other cultures as well,
although the cabbage can take many forms, such as
sauerkraut or even
kimchee.
In the Philippines, it is
important to have food on the table at midnight in order
to insure an abundance of food in the upcoming year.
Boiled Cod is a New Year's
Eve must in Denmark.
Olie Bollen
a donut-like fritter is popular in Holland for New Year.
Black-eyed peas, fish,
apples, and beets are eaten for luck at the Jewish New
Year's celebration (not celebrated on Jan 1).
Want some basic photography
tips? One of my favorite podcasts is
Tips from the Top Floor. The advice is easy to
understand and good for anyone with a simple (or more
complex) camera. I get it through iTunes, but there's a
website and message board here.
I've been ice skating the
safest way possible -- virtually. My sister, niece,
several friends and I chat in this world often (its
free). It's like MSN, AIM or Skype only we chat with an
avatar in different scenes in whatever appearance we
choose. Their newest scene is where we can ice skate
with the other person (or sit in the pavilion).
Basically, someone chooses hair color, clothes, etc. to
represent themselves. It's so nice to chat when others
can see you smile or blush, etc. For example, when you
say yes, your avatar nods hisor her head.
Pick an Avatar <--Here's
the link to go straight to picking out a personal character.
(P.S. I have ice skates
here -- I just wasn't wearing them in this photo.)
It is already the day after
Christmas -- it still feels like Christmas to me. I had
a wonderful, low-pressure holiday this year. My family
was in a good mellow mood. We all got to visit and chat
most of the day away. It was blissful. (Some years are
crazy so a peaceful year was appreciated.)
I like
celebrating Christmas until the 12th Day, so today is
just the second day of Christmas - yay - 10 more days to
go. (It seems like I never get enough time to wear Christmas clothes otherwise.)
Inspite of it all,
I am playing at creating New Year's signs. Feel welcome
to use this if you want.
Just another quick wish
that you are having a great day. I think this is one of
the best I've had -- lots of good conversation, visits
with family and food galore without making ourselves
sick. Ha!
Photos from our day are posted at
Christmas 2005 (select "Newer Image" from
this page to view each
Christmas photo).
I just have one big question
from this day -- do purses with magnetic clasps ruin
cell phones and digital cameras? (And a follow-up
question: Can the magnets be removed without obviously
wrecking the purse?) With this day of electronics and
stuff, why do they keep making purses with MAGNETS on
them?!!! Argh! Double argh!
My sister is an RN in the
psychiatric ward of the largest local hospital. I once
asked her about the number of patients she gets during
the holidays. Against the common myth, there are
actually LESS patients during the holidays! It
truly is a happier time. I hope it is happier for you,
too.
I got a new font for Christmas (what a geek
I am!). Here's what I made with it. I hope you are
all enjoying life right now.
Third,
no rewinding! Just a few clicks of a button --
and you can fast forward or go back through a show.
