And a Happy New Year

In Scotland,the land of my ancestors, they have a special New Years tradition called Hogmanay. It starts with New Years Eve and people go 'first-footing'-visiting people's homes and being the first one to set foot over the threshold after midnight. Gifts of food and the frequent 'wee dram' are involved. The first person to set foot over your threshold was supposed to set the luck of the house for that year. It was specially lucky if your first-footer was tall dark and handsome. That started in ancient times when you wanted it to be a Scottish man instead of a Norse(Light haired) man. Friend or foe. There is a website,of course, Hogmanay.com There is another tradition called 'swinging the fireball, which I am not making up, where one would make a fireball with chickenwire and flammables and swing it around the top of your head while running through the streets. I hope you would be wearing a kilt and yelling at the same time. I think I would like Hogmanay. It sounds like a good time.

Blessings

Maybe I'm just getting old and sentimental, but I'm looking at the friends and family I'm in the middle of and feeling all mushy and grateful. I was watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' (the mother of all mushy Christmas shows) and was stuck with the part where one man toasts George and says:"To George Bailey- the richest man in town" I feel like that. Rich. Certainly not money-wise, although to 80 percent of the world I'm rich beyond their wildest dreams, but blessed. Blessed and loved and well-cared for. If any of you are NOT feeling this way, come and see me,I'm willing to share...

Baby it's cold outside!

Our friends Chris and Nevada just gave birth to their first baby. They are in Taiwan, and it's really warm there. It's so cold here, it's ridiculous, and we've had more snow this November than in the last 60 years in Novembers. It's not good 'taking baby outside' weather,that's for sure! It made me realise that I don't remember the exact times of any of the births of my kids, but I do remember clearly what the weather was like for each of them: Tom-cool Victoria May overcast weather, Bob- hot August prairie day with lots of smoke in the air from forest fires up north, Johnny-snowstorm in March, Annie-the first really warm melty day in March, Matt-nice hot June sunny day. Maybe when you have a larger family, the details start to run together about birthweight and length of baby. It's funny the things that you do remember!