OK, I admit that I’m rather slow, but I’d still like to write a little about New Year’s. I’ve enjoyed reading what others in my family have said about it, so I’ll take my turn too.
New Year’s Eve afternoon Jim went to the Korean store and bought some dduk (small wafer-like things made out of compressed rice flour. They look sort of like soft potato slices.) Betsey went to the video store and rented two movies. We saw
Ratatouille while Kirsten was still awake. Kirsten turns into a pumpkin around 9:00, so after she went to bed we watched The
Pursuit of Happyness. (Yes, “Happyness” is spelled correctly.) We liked both movies. They were very different, but worth watching.
For supper that night Betsey made Dduk Guk (which is a Korean dish traditional for new year’s) and made enough so we could have it the next day also. It’s a new tradition in our family to have Dduk Guk for New Year's. (Helena learned about it when she was in Korea on her mission. I don’t know if it’s spelled correctly or not. Helena…?) For munchies that night we had popcorn and sun chips.
We heard that this year was the 100th anniversary of the ball dropping in Times Square, so we definitely wanted to watch it. Actually it’s been a tradition of ours forever. Dick Clark looked pretty good this year. He seems to have recovered quite well from the stroke he had last year.
When Helena was 8 years old we lived at Edwards AFB California. At 9:00 California time it was 12:00 midnight in Times Square, so the kids got to watch the ball drop before they went to bed. We also had a great time banging pans and making lots of noise. That worked out well. Just to add atmosphere we set our clock to show midnight also. It was fun.
When I was growing up we had a few traditions for New Year’s. We always ate pickled herring with saltine crackers. (I'm sure that beat getting pickled in other ways.) My mom’s parents came from Sweden and my dad’s parents were from Norway and Denmark, so I figured that the pickled herring was something Scandinavian. Oh yeah, speaking of pickled, my dad also LOVED pickled pigs feet (blech!), but not necessarily for New Year’s Eve. And traditionally we always got out the New Year’s noise makers and party hats. In later years I embarrassed my kids by going out on the porch and banging pans to make noise. I restrained myself this year. Besides, Kirsten was asleep.
Kirsten really likes parades so on New Year’s Day we traditionally watch the Rose Parade. Jim also takes the Christmas tree down then. He has it down to a science and gets it all taken care of while the parade is running. The last few years we’ve made a point of watching the parade on the
Home & Garden Channel so Paul James could tell us all about the various varieties of flowers. We like his commentary.
When we were in college at the University of Illinois, the U of I played in the Rose Bowl. A group from the school chartered a plane and Jim went with them. He stayed with his brother Fred and family while there. The game was played in January 1964. He doesn’t remember who they played or if they won, but he does remember that former President Dwight D. Eisenhower was the grand marshal, and was also at the game. This was before Jim and I met, but I thought it was a neat bit of New Year’s history. The U of I played in the Rose Bowl this year. They didn’t do so well, but those kids got to be in California for 5 days, so I suspect it was a fun experience for them.
Wishing you lots of good things in 2008.
