25 /26


 Out with the old and in with the new!  I don't think I am alone in saying that 2025 wasn't a banner year.  (Although it must have been for someone, right?)  Personally it wasn't that bad and I have a lot to be grateful for , but still 2025 was pretty awful.  Or at least not very good.

But I have hope for 2026.  I always have hope for the New Year because there is always the promise of a new beginning.  (Although we actually have that promise every day.  Heck we have that promise every second of our lives.)  We need new beginnings.  We need to keep moving forward.

However, I also believe that we need to try and have clean closure, if possible.  To that end, on the last day of 2025 I:

  • Cleaned the house (although my husband refuses to vacuum until the tree with all its glitter comes down next week), did laundry and ran the dishwasher.
  • Worked half a day (although the office ended up closing at noon, so that definitely wasn't the best use of my vacation days).
  • Did a quick shopping trip in hopes of finding more pairs of warm socks at Ollie's. (No dice...should have bought more the last time I was there, but I didn't know how good they would be.  They were very warm and I guess everyone else knew it as well!)  Also a quick trek to Weis to pick up more butter, sugar and chocolate chips, just in case I ran out as I was planning on more baking that afternoon.  
  • Baking more chocolate cinnamon sugar cookies as they had mysteriously disappeared. (I'm looking at my teen son.)  That evening I made a final (at least for now) batch of egg-free biscotti with chocolate chips.
  • Driving up to Skytop (yes, again!) to see the NYE decorations

    and wish those I had a chance to see a Happy New Year.  We have gone to Skytop to ring in the New Year twice.  It is fantastic and fun to do.  It is also incredibly stressful for the staff.  (The week of Christmas through the first weekend of the New Year is always booked solid.)  How they manage to pull it off is amazing.  I don't like to take up people's time, but I DO like to wish them the best and say that I'm thinking of them because I've seen first-hand the craziness.  (I do wish people would show a little more grace to hospitality staff.)  While I didn't get to see everyone that I wanted (sorry R), I did get to give hugs to J, C and T (who had a cold.)  I also saw them setting up for the fireworks and midnight balloon drop. 


    (Talk about it taking a village.)  Finally, before leaving I climbed to the observation deck and took in the beauty of the grounds covered in winter white.

  • Back at home, we had a "snack" dinner.  Finger foods and wine while we watched New Year's Eve Live on CNN.  It's always fun to watch Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen as they do tequila shots on the hour (I suspect Andy does more than just that and not just on the top of the hour.)  I enjoyed seeing Chris Isaak and his band perform, although whoever did the sound mixing needs to be retrained.  (Sound was awful; not the band.)
  • We gave up sitting in the family room around 10 and showered (needed a hot one) and watched the rest of the show in cuddled up in bed.  We actually made it to midnight!  (We didn't last year.)

 I fell asleep to fireworks (not sure where they were coming from).  I "slept in" till 7:30.  At which point I got up and started fixing dinner in the crock pot.  I've heard that pork and sauerkraut are a Pennsylvania thing that bring good luck if eaten on New Year's Day.  I like pork.  Sauerkraut is okay.  Luck I can always use!  Then I climbed back into bed for a while before we both got up and coffee and the raspberry cream cheese Danish.  (The same as I made for Christmas.  This time I tried to modify it a little so that it wouldn't be a mess.  I didn't work, but...)


As for the rest of today, other than shoveling about an inch of fluffy snow to make a little path from our garage out to where we will put our garbage can on Sunday afternoon and clearing our front steps (in the hopes that the sun will melt/clear it up), I have no other plans.  I've always felt the first day of the New Year should be quiet and calm.   (I also hope that the 364 days that follow will be the same.)

Calm and quiet...if 2026 will just follow that path, it WILL be a good year.  I'll keep my fingers crossed.  Will you?

Wishing all a Happy & Healthy 2026!  


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