Welcome 2012!

Out with the old and in with the new!  Happy New year from Nether Heyford!

We spent New Year's Eve with the Groom family - Helen and John, along with their children, siblings, parent, cousins, friends......it was quite a party!  There was lots of delicious food, mulled wine (my new favorite winter beverage), champagne of course, and games aplenty.  I came up with some new definitions in Balderdash and proved my total uncoordinated nature in Wii dance!

The London version of the "Times Square Experience" happens on the banks of the Thames.  We watched on the television as the whole nation welcomed the New Year in with the sounds of Big Ben.  We all toasted as a fantastic fireworks display lit up the opposite bank by the London Eye.

We learned of a Scottish tradition of First Footing.  This tradition has many variations but the theme is to leave your house from the back door, with the old year, and come in the front door with the New Year.  We all did our part to run around the house.  I had to substitute an onion bhaji for a piece of coal (another part of the tradition) but I think 2012 still looks promising!  To read more about First Footing you can click here:  Hogmanay

The English have a tradition of joining hands and singing "Auld Lang Syne".  I love the version by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadiens, so here's a link so you can cyber-link arms with me and sing along:

Guy Lombardo's "Auld Lang Syne"

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind 

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

and auld lang syne"    -  Robert Burns