Friday, January 1, 2010

Happy New Year!

It's New Year's day and we'll be heading over to my sisters today to celebrate. Spending New year's Day together is a tradition that we started a few years ago, and I always look forward to it.

It's also a tradition in our family to eat pork on New Year's Day...sometimes it's pork gravy and macaroni, pork chops and sauerkraut, and on our menu today, are breaded pork chops sliced up for sandwiches. 

A food we avoid today?  Chicken.

My mom always told us that if you eat pork on New Year's Day you'll "eat off the fat of the land."  Eat chicken and "you'll scratch all year!"  I figure, why jinx ourselves, so I always go for the pork and avoid chicken like the plague.

I just looked up this superstition and found an article that I really enjoyed on Epicurious, entitled, "Lucky Foods for the New Year."  They say "the custom of eating pork on New Year's is based on the idea that pigs symbolize progress. The animal pushes forward, rooting itself in the ground before moving".

As for chicken, it is "discouraged because the bird scratches backwards, which could cause regret or dwelling on the past. Another theory warns against eating any winged fowl because good luck could fly away".

Another lucky food that I read about this morning are grapes.  Apparantly you are to eat 12 of them on the stroke of midnight New Year's Eve. The tradition started in Spain. Had I known about this last night, I would have been popping grapes last night, like I do Light Lays potato chips!

Luck and money aside, my hope and prayer for my family and yours in this upcoming new year, is that God blesses us all with peace and calm, courage and strength, knowledge and understanding and most of all, with love.

Happy New Year Everyone.

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