HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

A new year… and a new blog. I hadn’t started out planning to make a new blog… it is just that the old blog and I were having a disagreement. It didn’t like me very much… I was unable to post ½ the time, and, well… my nature blog is over here. Executive decision made… I moved.

And then I had to switch my name… because apparently someone has my old one… oh well. That makes this blog a little less homeschoolish, and a lot more me-ish!

So… HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

OK, so I am a little late… but I blame it on the holidays! This time of year is so hectic and busy for me… and I can’t even think of all the things I do… all I know is that the computer comes FAR down my list ;).

That doesn’t mean, however, that I do not have things planned.

For instance… a new theme. For those who have read the blog for a while… or who know me through other means, you’ll realize that I and some friends of mine, adopted THEMES instead of resolutions. Themes are much easier to keep… because there is no definitive end point… a theme can carry over. A theme extends itself and becomes a reason for being… a lifetime goal.

This year my theme is HOSPITALITY. It seems simple enough… but the truth is a little harder to swallow.

I don’t drive… nor do I live on a major thoroughfare. I have no family even in the country… and we really don’t socialize much. And I realized… we do not socialize enough. Quite frankly, my children need a little interaction… with other children, adults and more. And I worried about it…

Until Christmas.

Why then?

I had the brilliant idea of taking around cookies/biscuits (biscotti for those interested) to local friends of my DH and few neighbours. The varied reactions astonished me. The older folks took it in their stride… one gifted me with some of her own… another brought round a huge tub of popcorn a few days later.

The younger folks were surprised… and grateful. And I came to realize how far our society has fallen… when taking biscuits/cookies to a neighbour, becomes SO unusual. I always thought that it was a normal part of an American tradition… and I liked it. And it was in that moment, that my own theme was born.

I don’t aim to change the world… I can’t say that my pitiful part in it will help the world to regain the hospitality of yesteryear… but I hope that I will transform a few lives, inspire some others, and teach my children the REAL meaning behind hospitality.

A few hospitable ideas:

1. Take soup to a sick friend/relative.
2. Bring food to the recently bereaved/new parents.
3. Invite friends/neighbours over for ‘tea and biscuits’ ENGLISH style :)
4. Take a gift for your hostess when invited for a meal.
5. Reciprocate with a return invitation.
6. Offer drinks to people when they come into your house… whether they be workers or visitors.
7. Send in food gifts to people at your DH’s (or your own) place of work.
8. Hospitality is a state of mind… not necessarily an action… so even if the door to door salesman is unwelcome… treat him with respect and always be polite. The same goes for those on the phone!

More on the theme and new blog later :)