Dancing into the New Year

I was fully expecting New Years Eve to be a quiet affair as we weren't off to any parties this year.  Instead, our Moroccan feast with BBC's Jools Hogmanay turned into Champagne and dancing in the street.  We found a Chinese lantern left over from our wedding 3 years ago, so we were all starry eyed as we lit it and watch it float into the night sky.

So, the New Year started with spontaneity and made me realise that the best things are those that aren't planned -  the surprises, the feelings that creep up on you, the bursts of song and dance.  It still won't stop me from trying to plan everything in detail, but I shall try and learn to embrace the mystery that lies ahead.

On New Years Day we open a new book, it's pages are blank, ready to be filled with words and pictures.

Young Woman Writing a Letter (detail), from a poster for Encre Marquet by Eugene Grasset, 1892.
Image courtesy of Library of Congress

A new pen, a new piece of paper, fresh and neat like the brand new exercise book at the start of the school year, or a crisp new diary to fill with dates, people, plans, scribbles and expectations.

Pages are filled with lists of things to do, things for work, home, family and wellbeing. Creative lists and practical lists.  Tying up loose ends lists and 'must do' lists.  Lists that, if truth be told, will be ticked, forgotten and re-written in turn on many a piece of paper throughout the whole year.

But it's the act of list writing, the getting the house in order, the serene brow, the renewed sense of optimism as the NewYear begins that is most significant. It's a nice feeling.

So...the sisters have lists at hand.  The Sisters Guild shelves are dusted and clear, ready to house some more beautiful things. Some things we already know are a must, some things we have visions of but are yet to track down, some things we hope will find us. 

Let 2011 be a year of wonder and discovery.