Wednesday, December 31, 2014

New Year, New Beginnings

Chronica Domus
Photo: Chronica Domus


As I sit here at home, with all the madness of Christmas behind me, and having recently returned from a wonderful action-packed winter holiday, I cannot help but ponder what the new year has in store for my loved ones and me.

Tonight, we shall spend a quiet evening at home, enjoying a celebratory home-cooked dinner, seated around our dining room table.  I know this will be a real treat on the heels of enjoying more than a little fine cuisine and quite a bit of imbibing during our recent adventures (too much of a good thing, and all that!).

At the stroke of midnight, we'll clink our flutes and toast the dawn of a new year, full of glorious hope and eager anticipation of new beginnings.

I wish you all a joyous and wonderful year ahead and may we all share in another opportunity to get it right, or as right as we are able, which for me means no resolutions, just new beginnings.

How do you plan to celebrate this evening and do you tend to make and/or keep resolutions?



30 comments:

  1. Lovely way to ring in the new year! We're headed to a close friends for a game-night which has become a tradition these past few years. Small crowd of close friends, good food,and home by 12:30!

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    1. Hello AD,

      An evening of games and back home shortly after midnight sounds like a marvelous time.

      I wish you the very best for 2015.

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  2. My dear CD,
    I must say The Den gives you very high marks for 2014 as you've demonstrated a very keen eye, an enlightened joie de vivre, and touchingly honored your father all expressed beautifully with your considerable literary gifts that has enriched the lives of your rapidly growing and grateful readership.. I feel fortunate that we have crossed paths and look forward to what treasures lie ahead.
    I wish you and your loved ones a happy and healthy 2015!

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    1. Dear GSL,

      You are too too kind and I too feel fortunate that our paths have crossed in blogland. You add so much to the lively discussion around these parts that it simply would not be the same without you. Thank you for your continued support and I too wish you the happiest and healthiest new year imaginable.

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  3. My husband and I typically spend New Year's Eve casually feasting on some home-cooked favourites - outside, weather permitting. We have a tipple on the stroke of midnight, change the calendar and then it's off to bed. Apart from the sound of fireworks in the distance, it's very quiet indeed. There is never any mention of resolutions!

    I only discovered your blog this year and what a delight it's been. I very much look forward to discovering what treats you have in store for us in 2015.

    My very best wishes to you and yours for the coming year.

    Spud.

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    1. Dear Spud,

      Thank you for your very nice and kind sentiments regarding your enjoyment of the blog. It is so nice to have you join in and enrich the comments section with your stories and points of view.

      Your evening in sounds to be the perfect remedy after the hubbub of the Christmas holidays.

      I wish you and your family a successful and healthy new year!

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  4. Happy New Year to you CD! We enjoyed a quiet celebration last night - the past few weeks have been a whirlwind of entertaining. Today is very hot and very quiet, so we are swimming in the pool and reading, and enjoying the peace and slow pace.
    Love the champagne flutes - very elegant, and glad to hear your family holiday was a success.

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    1. Dear Heidi,

      After playing the generous hostess to multiple entertaining opportunities over the past few weeks, you certainly deserve a quiet evening at home and a lazy day of swimming and reading. Sounds heavenly! It is quite cold around here (much more so than last New Year's Day), so we are enjoying a fire and each of us are reading and catching up with our emails.

      So glad you liked the champagne flutes. They are particular favorites of mine too and I've been lucky enough to have acquired (over a number of years) an even dozen, which is quite a feat considering they date from around 1810 to 1820.

      Wishing you much happiness for 2015 and may your list of "to do's" shrink over the next twelve months.

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  5. I normally don't do nye not even in my younger days. It was rarely worth the crowds and headache. I like being home or being walkable distance from home. I am happy it's 2015. I wish you and yours a very happy 2015!

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    1. Hello Csw,

      No longer in my first flush of youth, I too prefer low-key celebrations on New Year's Eve. However, I do remember a time that all I wanted to do was hot foot it down to Trafalgar Square and be enveloped in the mass of craziness that erupted at midnight. It was fun at the time to be sure but old-age has a way of changing one's view of what fun is.

      Hoping 2015 brings you much joy, happiness and continued inspiration to continue with your lovely blog that never fails to make me homesick.

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  6. Hello CD, A Happy New Year to you and your family. I hope that 2015 will mark a number of important new starts for you; I also will try to leverage the clean-slate feeling over here, with the safety-net that if things don't get jump-started, there is always Chinese New Year coming up in a few weeks!
    --Jim

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    1. Dear Jim,

      I love that you get to celebrate not one but two New Year celebrations. If you ever find yourself in San Francisco, there is a terrific parade to kick off the Chinese New Year that is the largest outside of China. Very festive and very energetic.

      Happy New Year to you Jim and thank you for your continued support and all that you bring to the blog.

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  7. We had a quiet evening at home and feasted on the usual...caviar, pate, duck, souffle. Just another meal chez Lindaraxa, lol.

    I wish you the best for the new year.

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    1. Dearest Lindaraxa,

      I have no doubt that to be a guest at your table either on New Year's Eve or at any other occasion, would be the highlight of anyone's year. How could it not with such a generous and skillful hostess. When are you planning on opening a restaurant? Put me down for a table for three please!

      I hope 2015 brings you much happiness and many more occasions to celebrate with your lovely family. Much health and good wishes to you Lindaraxa and thank you for always adding such crackle and spark to the comments section of this blog, which makes it all that much more enjoyable for me and my readers too.

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  8. I really prefer a quiet NYE. When we are home we typically have dinner with about 10 friends but this year we spent the whole week at a ski chalet and it is blissfully quiet to just be us on the 31st.
    I am happy for the new year and I wish you and yours the best yet... very happy I found your beautiful blog!

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    1. Hello Dani,

      The photos you included in your chalet post were heaven on earth! So happy to know you enjoyed your stay. We were hoping to see some snow ourselves on our recent trip (which I shall be writing about next), but alas, we got about a minute of it one evening which thrilled my daughter.

      I too am pleased as punch to have discovered your blog this past year and wish you and your little troupe of Rascals all the best for 2015.

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  9. CD,
    I may have mentioned this before, we celebrate (and have for the past 10 years) with 3 other couples that live in our neighborhood. We all share a long history of raising our kids during the same span of years and going to the same PTA functions, etc. Those kids are all married now and have children of their own. It's always low key and delicious, filled with good wine, good conversation and lots of laughter. We retire into the TV viewing spot of the home we are in each year to watch ball drop. Then, after a respectable 20 minutes or so, depart for our homes. :-)
    Your NYE sounds perfectly delightful.
    Happy 2015, my friend.
    Karen

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    1. Dearest Karen,

      I could not think of a better way of ringing in the new year than in the company of a few like-minded select friends sharing conversation, food and wine, and then to return home so soon after midnight. You are indeed a fortunate little group.

      I wish you a wonderful year ahead and thank you for adding so much to the comments section with your traditions and stories.

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  10. A bright and beautiful new year to you, Lady Domus. I'm very pleased to have made your acquaintance in 2014 and hope continue more fully this year.

    Hope springs eternal; I always ponder improvements in January, but resolutions? I'd better not create disappointments! I like your way of saying "opportunity to get it right."

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    1. Dear gésbi,

      If my French is correct I wish you a bonne année et bonne santé, and I too am pleased to have made your acquaintance this past year, and yes, hope springs eternal!

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  11. Happy New Year dear CD! Thank you for brightening up 2014 with your wonderful blog and I look forward to the pleasures you have in store for us in the coming year.

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    1. Dearest Bebe,

      Happy new year to you also! Blogging has been a new experience for me in the past twelve months and I've thoroughly enjoyed the pleasures it has brought into my life, including lovely commenters such as yourself, and also your articulately written blog.

      Here's to 2015 and the inspiration we each seek to continue with our blogs.

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  12. Ah yes, the widow's brew; lovely jubbly. Are those William Yeoward flutes? They're very elegant, and yet robust. Hope that 2015 will be too!

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    1. Dearest Columnist,

      Happy new (and yes robust) year to you also!

      Onto the subject of the flutes... well, several years ago I purchased the two Regency-era flutes you see in the photograph from a lovely dealer off the Portobello Road (David Glick Glass). Mr. Glick has the most amazing collection of late-eighteenth and early nineteenth century glass you will ever set eyes upon, and all of it for sale. Since my initial visit, I've returned for many other items, including several more of the flutes. I've now collected an even dozen, some in the same shape as those in the photograph, and other with a slightly flared rim, all circa 1810 to 1820. I must write a post on these flutes as I find them not only attractive but practical objects from the past that still serve a very good purpose around these parts.

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  13. Wishing you a wonderful and happy new year! x

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    1. And the same to you Natalia! I hope your year is full of health, happiness and lots of blogging inspiration.

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  14. Happy New Year to you and yours!

    On New Year's Eve day I drove to our back country as snow was forecast...so beautiful! Picked up pizza on the way home and we had that with champagne and celebrated East Coast time.

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    1. Dearest J.W.,

      How fortunate you are to have seen a little snow on New Year's Eve, particularly in your part of the world (I would assume this is a rare occurrence, correct?).

      Champagne and pizza sounds like a perfect combo.

      Wishing you all the very best for 2015, and thank you for stopping by.

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    2. Yes, snow is a rare occurrence in San Diego County :)

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    3. Funny because in New York it is not such a rarity and we only got about a minute of it one evening, stepping outside to go to dinner. My daughter was delighted as the flakes came wafting down. Obviously, we had anticipated more at this time of the year, but traipsing through snow and sightseeing don't mix too well so we were lucky in a sense.

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