“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year.”–Ralph Waldo Emerson

Don’t you just love waking up to a new day, new month, new year? Even though technically January 1 is just another day, with the same problems and joys, blessings and challenges as the day before, there’s always a sense of  clarity, of fresh starts and do-overs and a clean sweep of the chalkboard to make room for Something New.

In Victorian and Edwardian times, New Years Day was for visiting and being visited. An old Scots tradition, later carried by settlers to the Appalachian U.S., said that good luck would come to the home whose first visitor was male .  . . and a tall, dark and handsome male at that! I wonder if a tall, dark, and handsome male CAT would count.

On this day, many of you may be settling in to watch football. Some may be taking a Polar Bear Plunge into an icy body of water (brrr!). Others may be tucking into a plate of black-eyed peas and pork or ham (good luck), red beans and rice (more good luck), or festive leftovers from the fridge (probably not good very luck, but scrumptious anyway).

Me, my biggest plan for the day, so far, is to get dressed . . . eventually.

As I may have said before, September holds more of that start-of-a-new-year feeling for me than January does, possibly because of all that early conditioning to an academic calendar. Still, it’s a brand-new year and I’ll take it.

I’m typically not one to make New Year’s resolutions. If I think something needs fixing, I set out to fix it, whether it’s January or October. But I do have some prayers and intentions particular to this year:

*To love God and love others, in that order.

*To care less about what people think of me, and more about what God thinks of me.

*To write another novel, possibly a nonfiction book, more articles, more blog posts.

*To continue to study civilization, history, and culture–to narrow the sizable gaps in my knowledge base.

*To continue to honor and celebrate the best of the past on this blog and “IRL:–my Sparkling Vintage life.

How do you plan to sparkle in 2015?