New Year's Day 2026

 Today is the 1st day of the 1st month, the 5th day of the 1st week, and the 1st day of 2026, and:

• Apple Giving day
• Commitment Day
• Copyright Law Day
• Ellis Island Day
• Euro Day
• Global Family Day
• Mummers Parade - starts on Broad Street in Philadelphia 
• National Black-eye Pea Day
• National Bloody Mary Day 
• National First-Foot Day - the first person to step into your house is the bringer of good fortune for the new year, especially if they bring gifts:  a silver coin for good luck and prosperity, bread or salt, a piece of coal for warmth, a sprig of evergreen for a long life.
• National Hangover Day
• New Year's Day - as per the Gregorian calendar.  There is no particular significance to this day, just a carryover from the Julian calendar of when the newly elected counsels would take office.  It really wasn't widely accepted until the late 1700's and then primarily for consistency with international business and governance 
• New Year's Dishonor List Day
• Polar Bear Swim Day
• Public Domain Day
• Rose Bowl and Tournament of Roses Parade Day
• Saint Basil's Day  - a prominent theologian in the 300's known for his care of the poor and underprivileged who established the guidelines of monastic life
• World Day of Peace
• Z Day - those folks who always were at the end of the line because their name started with Z get to go first
• the last day of Kwanzaa - Imain [faith in Swahili] focused on believing in yourself, family, community and the struggle for a better future
• the eighth day of the Twelve Days of Christmas or Christmastide -  in addition to eight maids amilking, it is also the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God and traditionally believed to be the day Jesus was circumcised.  
• and Voyager 1 is currently ~23h 33m 48s of light travel time from Earth, or 25,431,000,000 km / 15,802,000,000 miles / 169.994 AU

Quote of the day:
"Many of us on the spiritual path are driven to experience something other than what we’re experiencing right now. That’s not a desire for enlightenment. That’s a desire to escape."
~  Andrew Holecek, “The Two Biggest Problems with the Spiritual Path”

Wasn't much in a mood to celebrate last night.  After working in the off and dealing with the commute, then getting home, dealing with shipments showing up, and finally getting undressed and comfortable, I just didn't want to dress up and join the group downstairs as I had planned to do.  Instead I went in world and fiddled around dressing four of my avatars and posing them for pictures, then went to a dance and uncorked my usual small wine bottle.  And as I watched the old year exit and the new arrive, there were two thoughts that kept circling about:

1. we made it out alive and were able to see 2026
2. but neither my son nor my daughter's marriage did 

A passing thought percolated up wondering what would happen to my country [I am very concerned that US mid-term elections will become the sham that Hungary and Russian elections are for one thing and dear Lord just look at the damage the dear leader has done in his first year], but for the most part, I can only acknowledge my grief, my family's pain, and try to find reasons for gratitude, and the strength to move on.

Around 4 AM an alert woke me up - for a moment I thought it was the fire alarm, but it turned out to be just a warning about a fast-moving snow squall making driving conditions hazardous.  Never did quite get back to sleep, and gave up around 6:30 AM.  After feeding Triscuit, I got the ingredients into my new slow cooker [apparently they don't call them crock pots anymore] because the pork and sauerkraut is supposed to be on low for 10 hours and if my daughter makes it over, we want to eat sometime before 9 PM!

For now?  We made it through 2025 and it is behind us.

We made it to 2026 and it lies before us...  I can only hope we make it through it together.

May the new year be kind to us all