Wishing you a Sweet New Year

It isn’t the start of the New Year I’d hoped to have.  After getting back from our Christmas trip to San Diego we settled back into our routine.  Dave went back to work.   I sent off some final donation checks before the end of the year and set to completing year end paperwork for the Feel The Joy nonprofit. 

Towards the end of the day, Dave asked me how it was going. He’d been wanting me to move Feel The Joy to Nevada, now that we are Nevada residences.  We evaluated the documentation requirements to maintain the nonprofit in California and agreed that now was the time to move Feel The Joy to Nevada.  I’d need to complete these same requirements in Nevada when I made the move.  It made no sense to double my efforts and complete this paperwork twice.

I was grateful to have Dave’s help making the decision and reviewing the requirements to dissolve the California nonprofit.  I put the wheels in motion; it may take awhile.

The process of establishing the nonprofit over the past two years has educated me on the commitment required to have a public benefit nonprofit.  It’s made me wiser.

Following this disappointing decision we were blessed with the most serene days of snow.  With limited mobility from our cozy home, we celebrated a quiet New Year’s Eve at home.  I made fondue for New Year’s Eve dinner using my homemade sourdough bread.  We toasted to a sweet New Year with pomegranate rosemary Royals when the ball dropped in New York City. 

So, what’s this “Sweet New Year” referring to?   I’ve begun to adopt a tradition based on a church I visited in Santa Cruz a number of years ago, Vintage Faith.  Vintage Faith had a tradition of incorporating some of the Jewish new year traditions into their new year services.    I was taken by the intentions surrounding their tradition of dipping sliced apples in honey to set intentions for a sweet year ahead.  They also included an opportunity to reflect on both what went well in the past year and what regrets one might have from the previous year.  Each person was invited to pick up a rock and toss it into a body of water to represent letting go of regrets and turning away from ways of living that would not serve them to embrace a sweet new year.  I invite you to join me on in this simple practice.      

As part of this practice, I’ve incorporated baking a Honey Cake this year as it reminded me of my time in Israel when it was prepared for festivals there. As I began baking the Honey Cakes and comparing it to the “Galette de Rio” friends would share for “Le Fete de Rio”. I realized that many of the ingredients in the Galette de Rio were similar to those found in the Honey Cakes.  Both include  ground nuts, often almonds, and are covered with a sweet glaze.  The galette’s glaze isn’t so different from the honey glaze covering the Honey Cakes. 

So this year, I celebrated “Le Fete de Rio” with a Honey Cake.  As the years have gone by, this little tradition of “Le Fete de Rio” has made me curious about the wise men, maybe you too are curious about the mystery of the magi?  

I am grateful to have been able to celebrate my Aunt Gloria’s life this past year by living closer to Susanville and being able to see her, and being able to recognize her through the Feel the Joy memorial fundraisers.  I’m grateful my sister was able to stay with me in Reno while she attended the memorial. 

My biggest regrets are expecting too much from those I love and not taking better care of myself.