New Year's Eve

Boiling a pan of new milk until it overflows - another New Year tradition

On New Year's Eve, I slept in and had a relatively relaxed morning, partly because my daughter was still sleeping after a rather restless night and I didn't want to make too much noise.  I stripped my bed and did a load of laundry, then, made my bed with flannel sheets instead of remaking my bed with the cotton sheets I had just washed.  They are the flannel sheets I patched, last year; they are still serving me well, I am happy to say.  LOL.  

In the early afternoon, I prepped the chicken drumsticks for cooking - adding all the spices and leaving it to marinate in the fridge.  I also cut all the onions and tomatoes, etc. I was planning to use for the curries.  I didn't want to start cooking too early, because then, they'd have to be kept in the fridge until needed.  Later in the afternoon, I vacuumed.  

It was after that, that I realized that I hadn't bought any milk to boil on New Year's eve at the stroke of midnight!  That is a cultural tradition, so, I rushed off to the grocery store, shortly after 4:00 p.m. to buy milk, and, while I was at the store, I also bought more half and half for my daughter and some orange juice, as well.  I came home by 5:00 p.m., but, I was starting to get tired.  And there was all the cooking yet to be done!

Daughter had taken off the sofa dust covers while I was out.  She made me a cup of tea while I picked some flowers from the garden - paperwhites to place at the altar and the last of the roses to place next to the photograph of my mother on the living room mantel.  I think it was the fact that I was tired that made me cry when I did that.  But, she loved her roses and, somehow, the fact that I still had roses in the garden to pick for her on New Year's Eve seemed very poignant to me.  My daughter hugged me to comfort me.  It's going to be 14 years in February, since my mother died, but, I still miss her and holidays are always that much harder without her.

After I had my cup of tea, I cooked the chicken curry.  Daughter cut the fish, added the spices and all the ingredients I had cut and kept and cooked the fish curry and the broccoli for me.  I cooked the rice and daughter helped to warm up the other curries, set the table, etc.

Both daughter and I were dressed and ready well before A and family came over.  In fact, we both played the piano for a bit while we waited.  A's husband didn't come, but A and her daughters came and we had a lovely evening.  I asked A to say a blessing before we had dinner and that was nice, especially as A's younger daughter added that she was so glad we could spend New Year's Eve together and for our friendship over the years.  Dinner was enjoyed and we lingered at the table, afterwards, just talking.  

They left around 10:30 p.m. as they wanted to be home to greet the New Year and I sent a plate of food home for A's husband as well as a bag of lemons I had picked, earlier in the day.  Daughter helped me to put away the leftovers and do the dishes. 

Then, it was time to see the New Year in!  We toasted the New Year with sparkling apple cider and I boiled some of the milk I bought until it overflowed, according to our traditions, and made milkrice, which we ate before we went to bed!

It was a lovely New Year's Eve and a fitting way to say goodbye to 2019 and the decade that was!

On New Year's Eve, I was grateful for:
- My daughter being home to help me prepare for the evening
- A clean and tidy house
- Having friends over to dinner
- Good food and even better conversation
- Ending the old year on a happy note

Now, it is time to look forward to a new year and all the blessings that are yet to come!

Hope you had a good New Year's Eve, too, and may you all have a wonderful New Year!