Thankful 2020

It’s eight hours and change before 2019 gives way to 2020. I’ll be ringing in the new year with the same friends as usual – a gathering that’s been a part of my family’s life for the seventeen years we’ve been in South Coast Massachusetts. It’s changed over the years; the preschoolers are now finishing high school or college, and most of us parents have lost a parent or two. A few have moved away and a few new faces have arrived, and a new generation has made its appearance, diaper bags and pacifiers in tow.

The hosts make the main course, and the guests bring appetizers, salads, bread, and dessert – good food, communally made and enjoyed. There’ll be plenty to drink, with or without alcohol, and the conversation will flow along with it. To a stranger, it will look no different from the many other gatherings that take place on December 31st: to me, it’s 2019’s last blessing of friendship and 2020’s first gift of hospitality.

Thinking of tonight’s gathering has offered me a focus for my January 2020 writing: the blessings of this life. I hope you’ll join me, and send me a few of your thoughts as 2020 begins – I’m a big fan of dialogue over monologue.

Happy and Blessed New Year!

[Diana Krall, Christmas Songs, Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep, Verve, November 1, 2005]