Happy Hogmanay! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Hogmanay is what we Scots call New Year's Eve - 31 December - the big night that marks the arrival of the new year. Its origins reach back to the celebration of the winter solstice among the Vikings with wild parties in late December.

Happy Hogmanay, Happy New Year, Happy Everything!  Happy to see 2020 in our rearview mirror.  I'm ready for a new year and a new beginning, but 2020 wasn't all bad, was it?

I've decided to compile the best of 2020.  And since focus goes where energy flows, I'm leaving the bad part out.  No sense in focusing there in my humble opinion.  We get enough of that on the news, so here goes....

• We moved to Scotland. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 In the midst of a pandemic.  A dream long awaited, a dream come true!  Against all odds.  Dream big friends, who knows, you just may attain them all! 💪
• Finding my new tribe.  My 'West End Girls' are my weekly sanity check.  And they are graciously helping me navigate Glasgow both inside and out.

me, Effie, Karyn & Aine

• Gaining a Glasgow Guardian Angel:  I don't know what I did to deserve her, but it was something beyond good!  Elle not only got us sorted for housing from before our move, but then walked me through the legal system.  Words fail me when I try to express my gratitude for such an amazing soul to welcome me to her hometown.  If I've ever had a guardian angel on this earth, it is most definitely Elle!    
• Audio books!  OMG, where have I been with these great treasures?  I've become addicted and have finished 25 in the past 4 months.  And you would think that I would catch up with that kind of speed and progress, but I'm adding more books than that, at an alarming rate.  The Silent BookClub on FB is to blame.  My favorites:  Untamed by Glennon Doyle, Greenlights by Mathew McConaughey, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare, The House in the Cerulean Sea, How to be an Anti-Racist and of course the Glaswegian Booker Prize winner - Shuggie Bain.  
• Walking EVERYWHERE!  In Michigan, we walked almost daily since the pandemic started and found the most beautiful parks in the area.  It was an awesome way to get the boys outside and explore during lockdown.  Now in Glasgow, we HAVE to walk everywhere (no car) and are enjoying the newness and exploring the area.  It is life giving stuff - try it!!

• The gift of time!  I love this newfound 'living of life' on my terms.  It is immeasurable the gratefulness I have for being able to do it.  It has allowed me to learn to cook and bake, given me time back with my boys, and allowed me to really relish life!  Is there anything more important - I think not.  
• Board Games - Every single night folks!  From Rummikub, Sequence, cribbage, Apples to Apples, marbles, to Racko.......it's a blast and gets everyone off of screens.  I can't recommend it enough.
• Rebounding - yup, I finally found a new exercise that I like (well, that's a relative term), but I love my mini-trampoline and actually look forward to working out on it.  It helps with the lymph system as well.  It's great fun and there are many tough workouts on youtube!  Life is good when you are in shape!
• And of course, last but not least, all of my family and friends, all over the globe:  I cherish all of you that I have encountered on my journey.  New and old, silver and gold.  I love you all!

Fireworks

Even celebrating New Year's was the most magical event!  I had gotten Jackson some fireworks for NYE, and any of you that remotely know J, knows that this is his THING!  I fretted and worried that we would start a new tradition of pissing off the neighbors in another country, since we've done such a good job of that in Heritage Hill, but worry be damned, we needed to celebrate getting rid of 2020 and starting 'a new.'  We trekked out at 11:45pm and set up in the openest spot we could find (still surrounded by tenement buildings-read apartments).  As the boys started lighting them off, all the people came to look out their windows.  I was figuring we didn't have much time, as people would get mad that it was too late and their dogs were freaking out, but they started yelling out their windows greetings of 'HAPPY NEW YEAR," in which I always yelled it back.  Then they started to come out and join us, and share their sparklers, asking where did we get the fireworks?  And all you HH neighbors, take a seat before you read this, they actually started to genuinely THANK us.  WTF?  They were so happy to have fireworks and some stayed long after they were done to talk.  We've been downright bullied in GR, whilst following all legal rules.  And the bullying wasn't once, or twice or even three times, it was constant.  I got to the point of sheer panic when Jackson would set up for the 4th of July display.  Even so far as calling in Ingrid's police officer husband one year to stem the flow of naysayers.  But these Scottish lasses and laddies were so grateful to be a part of our celebration.  I nearly wept with joy.  I'm sure I shed a tear or two.  My god, I thought, I sooooooooo dearly LOVE this country!   Maybe we're home.............

Words to live by......................................................................

I choose words every year, to fall back on and live by.  A mantra of sorts to get me through.  So what are my words for the new year you ask?

Last year was faith and trust.  They were perfect for 2020, more perfect than I knew when I chose them.  I thank them for the constant peaceful and reverent help they provided and let them go, for the new ones are really ready and exciting.  

My word(s) for the year ...

Celebrate Life!  

I invite you to join me.  Celebrate absolutely everything, all the time!  Life is worth living and you are in the drivers seat.  You have the power to make it whatever you want.  And celebrating it will only bring you more things to celebrate.  

Happy Hogmanay friends,

Kitty (fire) Cracker

💜

Dreams for 2021

To hug my friends once again

&

to travel