A NEW YEAR
It is the beginning of a new year and as of lately, I approach the stoke of midnight on January 1st with cautious optimism.
When I was young, New Year's Eve was a big celebration at my grandparents' home with all the uncles, aunts, cousins and family friends. The home was wall to wall with good chatter, lively games and scrumptious food and desserts. One food, though, baked away in the oven, awaiting the stroke of midnight- a pork roast smothered in homemade sauerkraut.
Before the last streamer and handful of confetti hit the ground, my great- grandmother and grandmother would jump into action. First, they grabbed brooms and "swept " the old year out the front door, and then they broke out the pork roast and ceremoniously metered out kraut, pork and potatoes to all present. It was essential the first meal of the year was pork to "root in" the new year as well as bring luck. Despite a full dinner laden with sauerkraut in the wee hours of a new year, followed by more frivolity before we all returned home to our beds, no one ever complained of indigestion or crazy dreams the following day!
The tradition of sweeping and pork after midnight still continues but how I wish I would have asked my grandmothers if this was a German tradition passed down from their grandmothers.
Mom now makes the pork roast and insists our now smaller gathering has pork and kraut as the first meal of the year even if it means breakfast! The problem is, the pork thing isn't working as good as it did when I was young. Life happens and some of it isn't very good. Perhaps it is the tough stuff that happens to or around me that makes me dip my toe cautiously into the waters of the new year. Will it be tranquil, raging or swift rapids? Will it be all three?
Surely my grandmothers knew each year would have troubled waters, and yet faced the stroke of midnight fearlessly. Since I "walk in faith when I cannot see," I, like them, plunge into the waters of the New Year and swim!
When I was young, New Year's Eve was a big celebration at my grandparents' home with all the uncles, aunts, cousins and family friends. The home was wall to wall with good chatter, lively games and scrumptious food and desserts. One food, though, baked away in the oven, awaiting the stroke of midnight- a pork roast smothered in homemade sauerkraut.
Before the last streamer and handful of confetti hit the ground, my great- grandmother and grandmother would jump into action. First, they grabbed brooms and "swept " the old year out the front door, and then they broke out the pork roast and ceremoniously metered out kraut, pork and potatoes to all present. It was essential the first meal of the year was pork to "root in" the new year as well as bring luck. Despite a full dinner laden with sauerkraut in the wee hours of a new year, followed by more frivolity before we all returned home to our beds, no one ever complained of indigestion or crazy dreams the following day!
The tradition of sweeping and pork after midnight still continues but how I wish I would have asked my grandmothers if this was a German tradition passed down from their grandmothers.
Mom now makes the pork roast and insists our now smaller gathering has pork and kraut as the first meal of the year even if it means breakfast! The problem is, the pork thing isn't working as good as it did when I was young. Life happens and some of it isn't very good. Perhaps it is the tough stuff that happens to or around me that makes me dip my toe cautiously into the waters of the new year. Will it be tranquil, raging or swift rapids? Will it be all three?
Surely my grandmothers knew each year would have troubled waters, and yet faced the stroke of midnight fearlessly. Since I "walk in faith when I cannot see," I, like them, plunge into the waters of the New Year and swim!
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