In my small part of the world the old year is fading fast with the new year nipping on its heels. This past year was a hard one for me, lots of bad things went down. But I also made some great friends here in this blogging world. For that I am thankful. The friendships mean the world to me. You know who you are!

Today is my day for reflecting back on the past year. I will be glad to see it go. A new year approaches all shiny, bright and empty. I intend to fill it up with lots of good things, so next year at this time I can say I’m sorry to see it leave. That’s my plan. Only time will tell if my plan works, but I will try damn hard to make it work.

I won’t bore you with a list of bad things. I just want to put them behind me and move on. I’m an optimist that way.

Yesterday I saw a great idea which I plan on doing. Take a nice jar and fill it full of the great things that have happened to you throughout the year. Then open that jar on December 31 and review all the good. I love that idea! Every day this coming year I want to put a slip of paper in that jar.  I want it so full that it overflows with those small brightly colored pieces of happiness.  I also thought that it doesn’t have to be big things, I need to remember the small things that make me happy.

Would winning the lottery be great? Sure it would and that would definitely go into my jar! But so would a slip of paper saying, “Sam, my crazy dog buddy made me laugh today.” Or, “I read this outstanding book today!”, even, “I got an email from a friend that made me feel good.” Like I said it doesn’t have to be earth shattering to be good. I think I will find by the end of the year that jar will be filled so full, because my life will have been filled with lots of small happy things. And that dear people, is what makes us smile and feel loved, all the small happy things, as they turn into a big happy life.

Now on with the celebrations!

 

New Year’s Eve ~~ I think we all know this holiday! From one end of the world to the other, New Year’s Eve is celebrated! (Via Wikipedia)  In the Gregorian calendar, New Year’s Eve (also Old Year’s Day or Saint Sylvester’s Day in many countries), the last day of the year, is on December 31. In many countries, New Year’s Eve is celebrated at evening social gatherings, where many people dance, eat, drink alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the new year. Some people attend a watchnight service. The celebrations generally go on past midnight into January 1 (New Year’s Day). The island nations of Kiribati and Samoa are the first to welcome the New Year while Honolulu, Hawaii is among the last.

• Superstitions concerning food or visitors to bring luck

This especially includes circle-shaped foods, which symbolize cycles. The reasoning behind superstitions is that the first day of the year sets precedent for the following days. A common superstition specific to New Year’s Day concerns a household’s first visitor of the year—tradition states that if a tall, dark-haired stranger is the first to walk through your door, called the First Footer or Lucky Bird, you’ll have good luck all year. Also, if you want to subscribe to superstition, don’t let anything leave the house on New Year’s, except for people. Tradition say’s: don’t take out the trash and leave anything you want to take out of the house on New Year’s outside the night before. If you must remove something, make sure to replace it by bringing an item into the house. These policies of balance apply in other areas as well—avoiding paying bills, breaking anything, or shedding tears.

Well, darn it! I don’t know any tall, dark-haired stranger. Well I wouldn’t, would I? Otherwise they wouldn’t be strangers! As for the trash, I plan on taking that out today, not tomorrow. Circles? I have grapes, does that count? As for paying the bills, well that isn’t going to happen, as I’m broke! hahaha! I’ll try not to break anything and I won’t be crying in my beer either. Oh wait, I don’t drink beer!

Make Up Your Mind Day ~~ Today is not a day to procrastinate. All year you have been putting off making decisions. Today should be the day to start the new year with a clean slate and make up your mind on any decisions that you need to make. So stop sitting there and being all indecisive! Make up your mind to do something, stop something, go somewhere and just do it!

World Peace Meditation Day ~~  This holiday started in 1986 and is a day when everyone on planet earth should take advantage of the calmness and serenity of meditation with the intention for world peace. The hope is that this positive energy will take us into the new year. We also should celebrate the diversity and unity of our global community. The day was created in order to unite people under the common bond of love and peace.

Now this one I could get behind! Isn’t it a wonderful sounding day? Let’s all meditate and wish for world peace, there is nothing wrong with wishing for something.

Well that does it for the month. I’m almost sorry to see this end. I’ve enjoyed researching and posting all the reasons to celebrate in December. Maybe I’ll do it again for some random month!

I am wishing you all a great New Year, filled with all the light and love you can handle. May this coming year be the best, warmest, brightest year for you. See you next year people and thank you for reading and commenting all this past year. You are the reason I keep coming back, well that and I don’t know how to shut up!