HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Welcome to 2006! I always love the start of a new year. It is a chance to start over, begin new things and make changes. My great-grandmother always said that "whatever you do on New Year's Day is what you will do all year long" and we try to make it a day that we wouldn't mind reliving throughout the next year.

This year, I believe, New Year's is exceptionally special because it falls on a Sunday. I can't think of a better way to start 2006 than in worship at church. Where, I might add, we sang one of the most worshipful songs that I know of and love, Days of Elijah. After church this morning, our friends Tom and Melissa and their kids came over to have a traditional (well, somewhat traditional) New Year's Day meal with us. We had our pork roast for prosperity, cabbage for our green money and hoppin' john for our coins.

I'm sure there are people who think it is a little strange that I still "live" these superstitions passed down from my Nanny, but, I think it adds a neat and, mostly, FUN tradition to the holiday whether it holds true or not. And, I hope, that my boys will remember these when they are adults, too.

For the rest of our day, we're looking at naps, finishing my book about the Reagans, and, maybe, an afternoon walk. I don't want the next year to be too strenuous, so I have to make sure that today is calm and relaxed!!

Happy New Year ~~~ May it be your best year yet!!!

Love, The Johnson's