Last Days, First Days

Happy New Year!  I had thought I might spend time this morning writing my goals and plans for 2017.  But I'm in charge at church this morning, and we have some people coming over this afternoon, so I will save that more meditative post for tomorrow.

I did not stay up to welcome in the new year.  I almost never do. 

We had a good last day of the year, which left me worn out.  We decided that we wanted brunch, which meant we needed bacon and a few other supplies from Publix.  Off we went, and a few hours later, we had a variation of eggs benedict (for an easy blender recipe for hollandaise sauce, go here) with salty dog cocktails. 

We spent the afternoon taking it easy.  I cut out paper stars and put a different word on each for an Epiphany project that we'll do in church this morning (see this blog post for details).  We took a walk to the marina and around North Lake.  We sat in the back yard, discussing home remodels and later in the day, we experimented with pizza on the grill.

No wonder we were tired and went to bed early!  And now it's on to a new year, with all our hopes and dreams for it.

Happy New Year! May we make reasonable goals and may the world respond. May we remember the less fortunate, who don't have the time, money, and other resources to make goals above simple survival. May we remember to be grateful, especially for all the small things we overlook: the bottle of wine that's delicious and affordable, the smile of someone we love, warm bread, the sun and the rain and the beautiful moon in all its phases, and the million small happinesses we get every day.