Can you believe that in a few days another New Year will be here? 2018. Oh, my goodness, I can hardly believe it!
This year is going to be a good one. We will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of Southern Lady magazine. It is hard for me to believe it has been 20 years. More news to come on that!
As 2017 comes to a close, I am reflecting on the events of the year. Some good, some not so good. But the events of our lives shape us into who we are. All experiences change us.
At my home growing up, we had to eat the requisite black-eyed peas for good luck. By the time we kids gagged down our three peas, we felt as though we had done our part. How did that ever get started? Why couldn’t eating a chocolate bar bring good luck?
You are actually supposed to eat greens with the peas. When I did a little research, I found it represents dollar bills and coins. You are also supposed to eat one black-eye pea for each day of the year—365! Well, I don’t know about that, but as an adult I enjoy peas when served with hot cornbread.
What is your tradition for the New Year? I would love to hear from you!
Have a blessed New Year, and know you are loved!
Do you make New Year’s resolutions? If so, please share them with me!
Comments 19
Completely forgot about Guy Lombardo….what wonderful memories we all have .
We always watched Guy Lombardo and his band. That show is sorely missed on New Years Eve. My sisters and me have started a new tradition. We save the books we received as Christmas gifts to open on New Years day. This way we can appreciate them more., other wise they get lost in the shuffle of the other gifts. Wishing you and yours a Blessed,Healthy and Peace-filled 2018. Looking forward to next year’s Ribbon posts and Victoria and Cottage Journal issues among other magazines you publish.
Joan,Marion and Marilyn
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We grew up with black eyed peas and hog jowl. When our children were young, chilli and thin fried cornbread became our tradition along with watching the bowl games.
I love reading your blog.
In recent years my sisters and I together with our husbands have created an annual tradition of going to the theatre and out for dinner each New Year’s Eve. We don’t always get time together during the year making this tradition particularly special. As a child my memories are of my parents playing Guy Lombardo on TV and watching the still hilarious Jack Benny move, “The Horn Blows at Midnight “. We always had a variety of favorite noshes but eating a piece of pickled herring was said to bring prosperity in the new year. In present day, New Year’s Day starts with a hearty pancake breakfast and the Rose Bowl Parade. Then some quiet journaling time to prepare for the New Year. I love the one writer’s comment to not do laundry on New Year’s Day!! Looking forward to next year’s “Ribbon” posts and issues of Victoria. Wishing you all a happy and blessed 2018!
I live in the Midwest & am of German descent. We are suppose to eat cabbage or sauerkraut on New Year’s Day to insure that we will have money. My great grandmother also sewed a pair of pillowcases on New Year’s Day. I have no idea how that tradition started.
We usually spendd New Year’s Eve watching movies and snacking on cheese, crackers, crudite, fruit, and nuts. I don’t stay up until midnight but get up at my usual time and meditate then watch the sunrise. We like to cook a special meal for New Year’s Day. It varies each year, this year will be spaghetti and meatballs with a tomato-free sauce made from the gravy from my Christmas brisket.
I wish everyone a very happy, healthy, and joyful New Year!
Wishing you and your family a Happy New Year, filled with joy, peace, and much love! I always enjoy reading Ribbon in my Journal, plus I just like the name of it. Blessings
Brenda, we did the same when we were little. These days, we watch the Rose Bowl parade in the morning…so many beautiful flowers!! I am always amazed.
Then we watch the New Years programme on PBS from Vienna…Julie Andrews is the host and it is always so lovely.
Happy New Year to everyone!
My family goes from New Year’s Eve party to birthday as my Mom (now deceased) and her twin sister were New Year’s babies. It’s an awesome thing to know that some traditions continue on despite the circumstances. We still honor the tradition of pork, cabbage, and blackeyed peas as well as a few twists on tradition. Happy New Year to all of the friends, families, and followers of Hoffman Media.
Our family doesn’t stay up late on New Year’s Eve but we do have a nice breakfast on New Year’s Day and then watch the Rose Parade on tv. The floats are all made from natural components and display beautiful creativity. As to New Year’s resolutions, we try to love the people around us a little better than we loved them the year before. Love is patient; love is kind…
My grandmother always said that greens represent “green money” and peas represent pennies. She had many New Years superstitions that we now laugh about (1. It’s “bad luck” to do laundry on New Year’s Day and 2. Whatever you’re doing on New Year’s Day is what you’ll be doing all year long.)
A tradition that we have in our family is midnight breakfast on New Years Eve. When the children (all teens now) were younger, they all wore their pajamas to IHOP. We meet all the aunts, uncles and cousins there each New Year’s Eve and ring in the new year over pancakes.
At midnight we go outside and bang on the bottoms of pots & pans with wooden spoons!
Hog jowls and black eyed peas, turnip greens and cornbread were on the menu every January first. And if you didn’t cook them you were to have bad luck the rest of the year. Good thing I don’t believe in luck, only blessings, because I can’t get all of these things in Colorado. However I can get the black eyed peas and we will have them January 1, 2018. It is truly a blessing to have your publications to give me a lift each time I find one of them in my mailbox. May you enjoy a blessed new year Phyllis.
I look forward to another 20 years of Southern Lady. Please continue to share the traditions and genteel ways of good manners and grace of entertaining and enjoyment of our homes and gardens, whether big or small. It is needed in the world today.
New Year’s Day used to be FILLED from early till late with football bowl games. Phil and our son, Jeff, would sit and watch them for HOURS! It was tradition for my daughter, Jill, and I to make my grandma’s recipe for homemade bread. What can smell any better than the smell of homemade bread rising, and then coming out of the oven?
We would proudly serve it with butter slathered generously on it. I can remember how that butter melted…and can almost taste it even now!
What a sweet memory! How I would love to relive those days!
Every year we have greens (until we moved to FL it was turnip greens, but now we have an organic garden as a neighbor and we have collards), b
lack eyed peas; and ribs. In the last several years we have cooked the peas in the slow cooker and the ribs with the sous vide. Looking forward to a great day of college football (War Eagle) and good food. Happy New Year to all.
Happy New Year! Every new year is a thrill, isn’t it? All those days, one after another, blank pages to fill with people to love, places to discover and blessings to count. I count you and your Hoffman Media family as a huge blessing in my life. Can’t wait for the 20th celebration. I do love the beautiful new format!
Happy New Year Phyllis! Greens, black eyed peas, and cornbread are always on our table to begin the new year. I am looking forward to your 20th year celebrations!
Oh please, please, say we are going to have a Southern Lady Celebration in honor of twenty years of our precious Southern Lady magazine. We miss you and all the wonderful staff; and the friends that we made throughout the years of attending the event! Even an overnight with just a few speakers and you would be so special.