This year we had a very quiet and unseasonably warm Christmas. We had a lovely Christmas Eve dinner, complete with sarmale (Romanian stuffed cabbage rolls), mamaliga (polenta), and red wine in good company. Christmas Day came with gift opening outside, on the deck, while soaking in the sun in 60-degree weather.

New Year’s Eve was also quiet. Knoxville is not exactly a super party town and sometimes that’s O.K. The Red Piano Lounge is a quirky little place downstairs, in a shopping center. It used to be called 4620. The music was great, and the drinks were good if you stuck with wine.

But the best part about the holidays was the company – it’s so good to have friends and family around…

It seems like 2016 has been a very unpopular year and according to Facebook, everyone just wished it dead and gone. There is a general sense of hope if not from sheer desperation that the New Year will be considerably better and will make up for whatever sins 2016 had. I am joining that crowd and beyond hoping, I am doing… doing more of the things that I want to do rather than what others expect or want me to do. I don’t intend to be selfish – I really dislike selfish people – but I do plan on catering more to my own fulfillment. So I will do more writing, more dancing, more traveling, more relaxing, more hanging out with the people whom I love and who love me back. I hope your year is the best year yet!

Happy New Year!