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Happy New Year!

I love New Year's Day. For me, it has always been about the Rose Parade, and college football bowl games. We would get up early and watch the parade, then spend the rest of the day watching all the games, and finishing off all the Holiday snacks.

Yesterday was a really good day, even by my usual New Year's standards. I started it out by getting up early and watching the Parade. I'm a parade geek/junkie and have to watch it every year. I also called and talked with my grandmother for a few minutes. Not only did she remember who I was, but she was pretty clear mentally for the entire conversation. She suffered a stroke last spring and has been having memory issues ever since. She was watching the parade as well, so we visited about the different bands and floats. That side of the family lived for years in Southern California, and going to the parade was a tradition for them.

After the parade was over, I watched the rest of the Outback Bowl, where my beloved Iowa Hawkeyes totally creamed South Carolina. I think they were only the team from the Big 10 to win a bowl game. After the game was over, I could hear the band playing "In Heaven There Is No Beer", which is an Iowa band tradition. I'm a non-drinker, but I really do have an affection for that particular drinking song.

While the game was finishing up, I started making my traditional New Year's dinner of black-eye peas and corn bread. I served my mission in Mississippi, and that is traditional New Year's Day fare in the South. It is said to bring good fortune and good luck throughout the coming year.

My friend Alex called in the afternoon. She was recently diagnosed with cancer, but she'd been told this week that it was only stage 1. While she will still have to undergo treatment, it was really the best possible scenario for the particular type. So that was good news.

After the peas and corn bread were ready, I packed it in the car and drove down to spend the evening with my brother's family. We had dinner (my sister-in-law contributed fabulous homemade taquitos), watched football, and played with the kids. I took some left-over noisemakers from the night before with me, and the kids had fun playing with them. My nephew played with his new blocks and wrestled with his Dad, and my niece would come and sit on my lap and cuddle with me and read stories. It was a great evening.

Later when I got home, I finished off the evening by watching a brand-new episode of Iron Chef America. So it ended up being a really great day, and hopefully an auspicious beginning to 2009.

Comments

Happy New Year Tracie! Glad you had such a fun day. I'm sure you are going to have a wonderful year! Love you!

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