New Year, Clean Slate
Welcome, 2023. The part I like best about the close of the previous year and start of a new one, is the natural invitation it provides to make a fresh start and have a bit of a reset. I do not know of any other holiday that brings the same, unique combination of relief and anticipation. I chalk my fondness for New Year’s up to being a ¼ Scottish, as Hogmanay is the biggest celebration of the year in Scotland. I never met my maternal Glaswegian grandfather (he died in his mid 40s, when my mother and her sister were wee bairns), but he gifted me my Scottish genes via my mom, which I carry with honor. While I do not take part in traditional New Year’s festivities in the U.S. (I am not a “party person” and I do not drink alcohol) I look forward to ringing out the old and in the new in my own, quiet way. For me, New Year’s Eve is less of a loud celebration, and more of a simple acknowledgment of another year passed. New Year’s Day is a day of relaxation, calmness, and of consciously settin