Year, Rinse, Repeat

Bigger Girl's take on New Year's Day:

I'm going to go out and do something!  Defeat a dark wizard!  Tame a dragon!  Or at least go have lunch with friends!

(She then leaves to go have lunch with friends.)


#2 Son, on learning a new skill:

Mom!  You know how awful it feels when you need to sneeze but you can't?  Well, I've figured out how to force myself to sneeze!  I just breath in and out really fast in a certain way, and it makes me sneeze, and it feels great!  No more of that 'have to sneeze and can't' feeling!

(He then demonstrates his new skill.  He's pretty good at it, actually, he can get several sneezes in a row.)


Young Jacob, on not being able to find any member of the family at home except me:

I lost them!  How could I have lost them?  They are so loud!  I'm going to go out and find them.

(He then proceeds to go outside and walk around like a lost puppy until he finds them.)


#1 Son, on cups, plates, and etc.:

Mom!  I bought cups!  See, and I've put all of my stuff from my apartment in the cabinets.  Now, when we lost plates and stuff, you have more of them!

(Because, of course, it doesn't occur to them not to lose the plates and forks to begin with, that would be too simple!)


Little Girl, on George, my pink flamingo:

Mom, I think she's safe now.  They ran out of fireworks!  Let me put her back out in the yard.

(She puts George back out in the yard, and someone immediately steals one of her legs, so Little Girl has to chase it down.  Order, and two legs on the flamingo, are both eventually restored to as normal as possible around here.)


Sweetie, on New Year's Day dinner:

There's nothing like black-eyed peas and cabbage for dinner on January 1!  You have to have them, for luck through the year.

(Please note that the peas must be made with bacon and sausage, and he hates cooked cabbage except in one specific dish, so it has to be in the form of cole slaw.)


My conclusion is that the year number may have changed, but not much else has, and it is good.


Today is:

Advent of Inanna -- Ancient Sumerian Calendar (date approximate; equivalent to Ishtar, Assur, Astarte, Isis, and others; a female warrior and fertility goddess)

American Historical Society Annual Meeting -- Washington, D.C., US (128th annual, with over 300 sessions covering a wide range of scholarly topics; through Sunday)

Berchtoldstag -- Alsace; Liechtenstein; Switzerland (a celebration of the goddess Perchta, or Bertha, guardian of animals and member of the Wild Hunt) related observance
     St. Berchtolds' Day -- Liechtenstein Bank Holiday; Switzerland Regional Holiday (because of the close association of his name with Perchta,  Duke Berchtold V of Zähringen's founding of Bern, Switzerland, is commemorated today; while not an official saint of any church, his day has become a big festival for children)

Blacks and Whites Carnival -- Colombia (through the 7th; manic and messy tradition, includes people painting themselves black one day, white the next, with a Grand Parade at some point during the week)

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy Day -- The Andrews Sisters recorded the song this day in 1941 (yes, before the US entered the war; it was for the movie "Buck Private" with Abbot and Costello)

Carnival Day -- Saint Kitts and Nevis (Last Lap)

Dainichi-do Bugaku -- Kazuno, Japan (11 traditional bugaku dances at the shrine; dates back as far as 718)

Dakar Rally -- Buenos Aires, Argentina to Valparaiso, Chile (the legendary event of off-road rallies; through the 18th)

Festival of Sleep Day -- begins this evening; celebrate by sleeping in tomorrow because it is assumed we could all use some extra z's after the holidays

Genshi-sai (First Beginning Ceremony) -- Imperial Palace and various shrines, Japan (a dance and musical art performed to round out the New Year's celebration)

Happy Mew Year for Cats Day -- because felines must have a day to celebrate the New Year, and they cannot share; sponsored on behalf of felines everywhere by Wellcat Holidays

Jour des Aieux -- Haiti (Founder's Day, sometimes translated Ancestry Day)

Kaapse Klopse -- Cape Town, South Africa (Minstrel Carnival; through January and most of February, but the main parade is today)

Kakizome -- Japan ("first writing", a day to do the first calligraphy written at the beginning of the New Year; often a resolution or poetry asking for a good year)

National Cream Puff Day

National Motivation and Inspiration Day -- US

National Science Fiction Day -- Asimov's birth anniversary

Ninth Day of Christmas

Nyilo -- Bhutan (Winter Solstice)

Positive Postcard Day -- some people now say you should fight the post-holiday let-down by sending someone an uplifting postcard; the original project said to send positive postcards to yourself, with instructions here

Run It Up the Flagpole and See if Anyone Salutes It Day -- try something new today, in the spirit of the new year

Second Day of New Year -- also a holiday in many countries

"Someday We'll Laugh About This" Week begins -- to remind us to keep our perspective; sponsored by The Humor Project

St. Adelard's Day (Patron of gardeners; against fever, typhoid)

St. Basil's Day/Basil the Great -- Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches (yes, the Eastern Churches celebrated him yesterday; Patron of hospital administrators, reformers; Cappadocia; Russia)

St. Macarius' Day (Patron of of confectioners, cooks, pastry chefs)

Takai Commision Holiday -- Niue


Anniversaries Today:

Georgia becomes the 4th US State, 1788


Birthdays Today:

Kate Bosworth, 1983
Taye Diggs, 1972
Christy Turlington, 1969
Cuba Gooding, Jr. 1968
Tia Carrere, 1967
Gabrielle Carteris, 1961
Alan Beckwith, 1952
Wendy Phillips, 1952
Christopher Durang, 1949
Dennis Hastert, 1942
Jim Bakker, 1939
Roger Miller, 1936
Isaac Asimov, 1920
Sally Rand, 1904
Barry Goldwater, 1902
Martha Carey Thomas, 1857
James Wolfe, 1727


Today in History:

The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire, 366
Emperor Joseph II orders Jews of Galicia Austria to adopt family names, 1235
Spain recaptures Granada from the Moors (Granada Day), 1492
The first American revolutionary flag is displayed, 1776
The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded, 1881
"The Liberator", and abolitionist newspaper, begins publishing in Boston, 1831
The British reestablish rule in the Falklands, 1833
The first US wire suspension bridge for general traffic opens in Pennsylvania, 1842
Because of anti-monopoly laws, Standard Oil is organized as a trust, 1882
Alice Sanger becomes the first female White House staffer, 1890
A record 19'2" alligator is shot in Louisiana by E. A. McIlhenny, 1890
Pres. T Roosevelt shuts down post office in Indianola Miss, for refusing to accept its appointed postmistress because she was black, 1903
The American anarcho-syndicalist union known as the Industrial Workers of the World forms, 1905
The Canadian branch of the Royal Mint opens in Ottawa, 1908
Lithuania gains independence, 1919
The US & Canada agree to preserve Niagara Falls, 1929
Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the U.S.S.R., 1959
Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth, 2004
Mauritius bans the use of plastic bags, 2013