photo credit: alexxvaughn

Happy New Year, dear readers!

New Year is the time to bid farewell to the old 2008 year and welcome the coming 2009 year. It is the time to start fresh and move forward. It is the time for new beginnings and new starts in life. New Year has a message for each one of us.

Year 2009 is the year of the Ox, according to the Chinese calendar. The Ox is the sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work. The Ox signifies strength.

May this New Year bring you:

• Strong Physical and Financial Health
• Strong Relationships and Families
• Strong Partnerships and Opportunities, and
• Strong Will to pursue your Dreams!
• Our family wishes you prosperous and abundant New Year!

photo credit: Gabriel Pevide

New Year’s Celebration is a big holiday in our family accompanied by lots of champagne drinking. I call it the “New Year Russian Style” – bigger than Christmas or any other holiday or all of them combined together. It arose during the secular regime of the former USSR.  New Year lasts all night and spills over to the next day. The preparations for the celebration of the New Year are as busy as for Christmas in the western world.

A lot of women and men begin their crash diets just before New Year; everyone wants to fit into their fabulous evening attire. The abundance of food and drink on the New Year’s table is alluring and no one is thinking of depriving themselves that night. My American husband knows it too well – he’s started his diet. And I started mine a long time ago (or maybe I just never stopped). One of the methods I use is the Magical Leek Soup from the book “French Women Don’t Get Fat” by Mireille Guiliano . It helps me to boost my weight loss when I hit a plateau – works every time.

As we do most years, we are hosting a party in our house. We are planning an elaborate menu. The idea is that your New Year’s table should be full and abundant to invite an abundant year into your lives.

Father Frost (in the form of my husband, wearing a costume) will visit us with a big bag full of presents. Presents don’t have to be anything big.    If you know a person you can tell what they like the most. And I know that my husband loves to drink coffee all day long – you can guess what he is getting for New Year’s. 

The real magic of the holidays is not about gift-giving but about festivities, food, laughter and drunken dancing on the table with your family. Have a healthy and abundant New 2009 Year!