01 January 2007

New Year

Politica said that we were having the lamest New Year ever, but I suspect that what we did was pretty common among readers of this blog (apologies to any readers who are more the partying sort!). We hung out at home, watched a movie, went to bed. We had a sparkling grapefruit juice toast at dinner, but with Neighbor Girl and Woman of Many Talents at the table, things felt special. We had twelve bean soup, vegetable risotto, salad, and krumkaker for dessert (when I got my pressure cooker cookbook and saw the recipe for 12 bean soup, I thought "who has 12 kinds of beans in their house?!?" and then looked up at the shelf and realized I was that person. CG and I mixed up jars of bean mix and then she decorated them as holiday gifts for her teachers. We're big fans of 12 bean soup now.)

We watched Proof, and then Politica clicked around on the networks to see what was on. She stopped at Garrison Keillor's special for me. He rang in the new year with a Kenneth Rexroth poem (scroll down--it's the second one on the page) about how beautiful your partner looks when caring for your children. Politica is, um, not a fan of Garrison Keillor, and she particularly dislikes it when he sings. Most of what he was doing late in the special was singing (with some awesome guests, it must be said). But she knows I like his work (like this) quite a bit, so she stopped there, and that's what we watched to ring in the new year. And that's one of the qualities that makes Politica so beautiful--her ability to give me things I love and enjoy, even when it wouldn't be her first choice. She takes pleasure in my goofy enjoyment of corny musicals (she stocked our new iPod with broadway music for my birthday) and Keillor. Her generous spirit reminds me that it's good to listen to your partner, good to turn towards each other.

One of our friends has a family tradition of writing down for each year a hope, a fear, and a prediction. Round is Funny has a tradition of making predictions, and Pilgrim/Heretic did a recap of the year. Politica is helping Woman of Many Talents with her law school statement, Curious Girl is running around wanting company with various schemes (build with me! play with me! be my honey! no, be the big sister and I'll be the mama! let's have a tea party!). So I'd love to be all introspective, but it's more a make-pretend kind of day around here (later, I'll upload a photo of the fancy tea party we had for morning snack). We did make a list in my Curious Girl journal of the cool accomplishments of the year: her first library card, our beach vacation (and jellyfish sting, a topic bringing many people by here. Note to those people: if you're stung by a sea urchin, pee on it. But for a jellyfish sting, wet sand is the ticket. Or the Muppets.) But beyond that, it's not looking like much of a reflective day around here.

Many good wishes for the new year to you and yours.

11 comments:

Suzanne said...

That sounds like a lovely New Year's Eve -- ours was similar, except that it was me being all generous and watching Attack of the Clones (Star Wars episode 2) because my husband wanted to. It was at least unintentionally humorous!

Best wishes to you, Politica, and Curious Girl in the new year.

chichimama said...

Happy New Year! Your New Years Eve sounds lovely.

Pilgrim/Heretic said...

Happy New Year!

susan said...

Good for you, Suzanne. I went to Attack of the Clones in the theatre for much the same reason :).

susan said...

I'm not sure I can name all 12 of the beans in the house (unless "small red" or "small white" counts) but sometimes they are interchangeable in recipes.

Proof was pretty good. I think I might like it better as a play, but it's a solid movie. There is a love angle between Gwyneth Paltrow and Jake Gillinghall (or whatever his name is), but that's not the main plot. It's not often you see a movie about a strong and smart woman at the center. It's worth seeing.

Anonymous said...

yum, krumkaker.

Elizabeth said...

Happy new year. I stole your hope, fear and prediction idea.

Phantom Scribbler said...

Laughing. I have a soft spot for the skits on A Prairie Home Companion, but the singing? Not so much. But we watched it, too, for Mr. Blue and my parental units.

Happy New Year to the whole Crunchy Granola family!

mc said...

Yep, your New Years sounds right up my alley (though D feels about Garrison Keillor the way Politica does). Happy New Year!

Anonymous said...

Lovely New Year's! Ours was similarly laid back except that, being sick, I went to bed. But woke up right at 12minight (is that weird?) to say Happy New Year to all the humans and dogs that live in our house (humans outnumbered).

I heart your family!

Suburban Gorgon said...

I feel sad for Politica that she does not know the joy of Garrison Keillor - I have loved him since high school (that was the mid-80's, for the record)