So … do you have a family tradition for New Years Eve?
I don’t. Though I love the idea. I get up early so I do not stay up late but I like the idea of the New Year being celebrated. The freshness of it. The promise. And we all need a new start – right? Another chance.
At home in New Zealand – it is beach time – New Years is a summer celebration and for the life of me I cannot remember my parents celebrating it at all. But I love the new-ness of a New Year. The forgiveness. The pass. The Great Cosmos smiling through a dusty sunbeam and saying – you are OK, you did your best, now let me see you do better. Do you want to do better? If you want to do better – I am with you.
In New Zealand we begin the new school year in February. So it is ALL new. Exercise books, teachers, Life. So I want to have a spring clean at the end of December. 
Move those cobwebs along. But here on the prairies of Illinois it is a spring clean in winter. A New Year makes me want to clean out all the old, the detritus, the faded and superfluous. I want to open all the windows and flush out all the old smells. Which is a little uncomfortable when we have only climbed to just above freezing by the end of the day. But I do it anyway. Bring on that winter air!
Or you will get this! By morning this condensation will be frozen solid. On the inside!
Elsie is wondering whether she has to be on a diet too. Maybe I can palm her a flake or two of good hay when Queenie is not watching? But Queenie, like all good bullies, is always watching.
I made two batches of soap yesterday. One is the Ugly Soap with ground coffee, lemongrass oil (from the farm) and steel cut oats – for my daughter. The other made with Rose Essence for me. All my soaps are three parts meadow raised lard – one part olive oil.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Tell me a little of your New Years traditions if you have time. I love traditions. I want one.
your friend on the farmy,
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
91 responses to “New Years Eve”
Before we moved to the land-of-good-sushi, we would roll our own with a few families, while drinking champagne during the evening. I think I might have to dust that one off and revisit it. Happy New Year!
We love the ugly soap. Worked wonders on my hands!
Bring on the New Year!
I am a true Southern(a rare third generation Floridian) so it is black eyed peas with hog jowls, greens(turnip for us) and rice. Thought for this year we are going with a 15 bean mix.
Here in the South we eat ham (can’t eat those traditional hog jowls), black-eyed peas and turnip greens on New Year’s Day.
Here in the midwest it’s tradition to eat herring at midnight for luck. Thank you very much but I’ll take my chances. I think it’s a German thing. Personally I haven’t seen the New Year in in ages, in fact I’m happy when the whole holiday season is over. ‘signed’ Grinch, hahaha
right there with YA! .. John is eating his herring as we speak!!. c
Uk!
I’m in Germany this year because my mom passed away. She was 91 years old . Here in the northern part of Germany donuts filled with plum jam are eaten for good luck. My mom used to make them . She also made herring salad with beets.
I guess our tradition is to sit around at home. We used to watch the ball drop in NYC on TV, but the fun had gone out of that. The entertainment isn’t so entertaining any more. Happy New Year!
Hi Celi. Wish you and yours a wonderful new year! We started the year really special … We met a brand new born zebra! And watched Mama perform a neat little surgery on detaching the placenta from baby. It was awesome to see the little one get on it’s feet and begin to face this world … It’s hard to survive out in the African bush.
Hopefully I will get the pictures and video up on the blog later …
New Year’s Eve is Fd’s and my wedding anniversary. We have a nice dinner out usually, but this year my Baby Sister and her family came to visit us from Nebraska… so we made dinner here and had some sparkling wine and played games. Generally though, FD and I never stay up long enough to watch the ball drop in NYC. In the South, the tradition is to eat Black-eyed Peas for lunch on New Year’s Day. I never do this. I find it a silly tradition. 🙂
When I was young and my grandparents were still alive we went to their house every year and had snacks and played cards. Then at midnight, we went outside and the whole neighborhood set off fireworks and banged on pots and pans and celebrated the beginning of a New Year. Now we switch it up. Sometimes we go downtown to an event called First Night where artists and performers are placed all over the downtown area. They give a map and you walk from venue to venue. All of the art galleries are also open. This year it was way too cold to wander around outside until midnight so we stayed home, had a huge seafood feast, and I was asleep by 10:00. Ha!