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Sunday, January 1, 2017

A FINAL WORD FROM INA AS 2017 BEGINS



And now as the holiday season draws to a close and the New Year begins, I post one of my favorite passages from Ina’s correspondence: 

Last night Shirley and I stayed up to see the New Year in from the east coast to the west. They began at 9:00 at New York City when pandemonium broke loose on Broadway till we could hardly hear the chimes from the great Trinity Church. Perhaps you were listening in, too. We bathed while the New Year was crossing the Great Plains and getting into the mountains to be heralded at Denver. Chicago ushered it in on Central Standard time. I curled up on the couch and took a nap while 1933 was crossing the mountain chains and reaching the city which sits by the Golden Gate. There again was great sound and we could hear the steamers bellowing and such a confusion of sounds [so that] we could hardly hear the bell tolling out the midnight hour. Earlier in the evening we heard a funny and clever program from the New York studio, “The Kukus.” They put on such clever skits. We heard Arthur Lipman do a stunt. You know he writes poetry and I’ve often read it in the Saturday Evening Post. Ina to Vance, New Year’s Day 1933

Mike and I have long since given up greeting the New Year in its infancy. The morning is soon enough, thank you. We stayed up until 10:30 watching Christmas Vacation for the tenth time, and then we were happy enough to slip into a nice warm bed and drift off to sleep. Even the fireworks across the street didn’t keep us awake.

Today is New Year’s Day, right? – January 1, 2017, right? But as I searched the television program guide for New Year’s Day programming, Mike enlightened me: all those programs are tomorrow – tomorrow – because that’s the official holiday. I think there’s something flawed in that reasoning. Hmmph!

As the Christmas season comes to an end, I’m now grateful for the simplicity of our celebration. I’ll cover my little two-foot artificial tree with its cloth bag and remove the vintage plastic carolers from the window.  Those things will slip quickly into storage, the only difficulty being the cold and the icy path to the shed. Candles, lit houses, and ceramic angels can stay where they are for the time being while short days gradually grow longer. I’m free to move on to more interesting things, like crocheting a new Christmas afghan with the yarn that was delivered yesterday.

 
The pictures here were taken yesterday (Sat., Dec. 31) as Ken, Mike, and I walked the dogs at the dog park on the Snake River. KW


 

5 comments:

  1. The snow continues to fall up here and it's been a quiet new year for us as well. Early to bed, church this morning, and then this afternoon we did party. Our friends the McClures have had an Italian New Year party for years. Even with Steve gone now, Tina decided she'd have one and we all had a wonderful, calorie laden good time with a little Sinatra and Martin in the background.

    Happy New Year to you and Mike!

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  2. Sounds like your friend is making a good adjustment, carrying on as her late husband would undoubtedly want.

    We haven't had new snow in the valley, but we're getting ready for the cold. Mike put more shavings in the dog houses, brought in wood, etc.

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  3. Our neighbor keeps a store of very loud fireworks that he lets off at random times all year long (sports victories, possibly birthdays, etc). We were briefly awoken at midnight by the fireworks next door and I sleepily commanded that Nick give me a kiss, which he did and I then concluded, "Good. Another year together."

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  4. Was the kiss for the year just ended or for the year ahead?

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    1. It's for the year ahead...superstition says a kiss at midnight on New Year's Eve strengthens the relationship for the year to come. Thanks to the neighbor's loud fireworks I was able to secure my relationship AND still go to bed on time. Nick doesn't remember it since he was technically asleep, but I think it still counts.

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