New Year’s Eve Edition — Traditions and Superstitions
Tales of an AirBnB Host
Guest of the Week #5 — The Amazing Julia
Julia has been a return guest three or four times now.
She first arrived in the middle of an ongoing Women’s Retreat Weekend. We were fully engaged in yoga, Tai Chi, garden walks at Innisfree, amazing food, and music, poetry and story telling around the campfires. My friend Armando was here for that weekend as well. You learned about him here.
My friend Hawklyn brought her red tailed hawk, and in the safe space of a Tipi, we went on a guided meditative shamanic journey, with the hawk spirit beside us.
It was magical.
Julia has become one of those beloved guests who have become family.
Her family hails from Puerto Rico and Venezuela. We share a love of food and community. She fits right in, helping to cook, washing dishes and jumping right into the middle of all the conversations. She is unabashedly honest and a joy to spend time with.
If I had had a daughter instead of sons, Julia would be that daughter.
During this week’s visit of four nights, and in preparing for our New Year’s Eve party, we started talking about food and traditions, and she mentioned that her family not only had traditions, but superstitions.
Oh, really?
I asked her to tell me more.
She rattled off a long list. All from her mother’s Venezuelan family, some that her mother collected along life’s journey — for good luck, I suppose, why not? — and one from Italy, that involves lentils.
As she told them to me, I thought, wow — this would make a good story! AND, so much more fun to do these than sit around a TV waiting for a silly ball to drop!
I mentioned to her about writing this article — she agreed to let me tell the story — and she wrote down the list.
And here it is! See what you think. Some of these are hilarious. This is what we are doing here in Poughkeepsie, New York, right around midnight!
- Put lentils in your pockets before midnight, for abundance.
- Put coins and dollar bills of any denomination in your pockets for financial success.
- Wear yellow underwear inside out for prosperity. For LOVE, wear red undies inside out. For coming into a new DECADE, wear red underwear as well. It’s best if you buy a brand new pair of underwear for this event. Otherwise, just do the best you can.
- Write down 12 wishes for the new year in a list.
- During the 1 minute countdown to midnight, eat 12 grapes. Concentrate on each wish as you eat each grape.
- Have a pot of water sitting by a window before 12 am. Dump the water out after 12 am or even in the morning to get rid of negativity from the previous year. Imagine the negativity leaving your life as you dump it.
- If you’d like to travel: run around a Christmas tree three times while carrying a suitcase. It doesn’t exactly have to be a real or nice Christmas tree.
That’s the list. This little bit of silliness sounds like just the ticket to a happy new decade.
What traditions — or superstitions — does your family have?
I’m so grateful to be able to ring in this new decade with good friends, friends who through the serendipity of life have found me, and I them, and who have become the family that the universe wants me to have.
May your New Year, and New Decade be as blessed with as much love as mine has been, since I became an AirBnB host.
Happy New Decade to you, my favorite writers.
Marilyn Flower Greg Prince Gutbloom Lon Shapiro Jenny Justice Heidi Franklin Justine Reed Rachael Ann Sand Kathryn Dillon Bob Beacham Kristi Keller Laura Mohsene Jenn Pike Jimmywayne Ford Luke Wiese Jamie Lou Robin Klammer Laurie Livingston Nave Zarina Dara 🥀💃🏻 Hank Eng Imahuman Don Feazelle Roz Warren Helen Cassidy Page Isaac Middle Tapan Avasthi ⛄️ Christina Ward 💗 Sherry McGuinn Shelly McIntosh Joshua Theodorus Kurnia T.S. Johnson Janie Emaus Caroline de Braganza Bev Potter Unique Writer Laura Belle Alan Asnen Kris W Leon Kyrie Gray Lee Serpa Azevado Pamela J. Nikodem, MS Ingrid L. Williams Tammi Brownlee Lisa Bolin Lisa Tomey Jonica Bradley💗POM-poet!💗 Brenda Mahler Adam, Diabetic Cyborg Natalie Frank, Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology) Christina Barber Christine Graves Emma Webster Evelyn Martinez Judith Deborah Peggy Gillespie Hazelwood Margot Q Elizabeth Bolton Armando Batista Bebe Nicholson Ben Kissam Sara Zadrima Ronald Franklin Kent Clark Anna I. Smith Tammy Patton Calaif Parks Marie T Smith James Knight Noel Cabacungan OinkOink Jake Russell A. Christine Myers Ravi Shankar Rajan Mari Teresienė Aliou Sidibé Alice Cimino Alexaries Gwenna Laithland Mickey Snowdon Carole Tracy Jenkins Olivia Rojas Julie Amidon-Conklin Nanci Arvizu Lauren Salkin James Garside Whitney Blaine Mark Ciemniecki A Stranger Haven Gretchen Lee Bourquin 💗POM-poet!💗 Sherrye Richardson Terry Barr Kati Pierce Leslie Wibberley Genevieve Santos Jessica Trésor Adeline Dimond Kim McKinney Bridget Webber Naman Kumar Angela Volkov Sharron K Jack Burt Jessica McMillan Ashley Peterson Josh Wann Christine Anderson Pat Smith Jen Marie Wiggins Anupama A Bob Walter Underwood Robert Locke Marla Bishop Marla Bishop J.J. Pryor Garrick Arnold Stephanie Berryman Susan Randolph Gill McCulloch Terianne Falcone
This is a series.
Susan Brearley is a brilliant strategist and writer/editor. She’s the owner/operator of the MuddyUm Writer’s Self Help Clinic. And the Captain of the Good Ship MuddyUm.
She’s been writing comedy for about 2 weeks.
