In with the new!

Above is a picture my friend Jacquetta took of the fireworks downtown. That is our Electric Tower in the middle, lit up red and green! How many cities besides Buffalo has one of those? Huh? Huh?

The fireworks last night were beautiful and today has been too.

Does anyone else have New Year's rituals? I do.

No. 1, I like to play the piano for myself and I have special pieces I play. Every time the new year rolls around I like to play Bach. There is this prelude and fugue I love from "The Well-Tempered Clavier." Ideally New Year's Day will be bright and sunny and snowy and that is when I like to sit down and play this prelude and fugue. This New Year's is warm and rainy but it suits that weather too.

On New Year's Day I like to go to Mass. I did that today! Check.

I was 10 minutes late but still. Going on New Year's Day is a feat because if you celebrate the New Year at midnight, which I did, it can be a challenge. That makes it better and more special! Especially today when you were not obligated to go. My brother George went with me. He admired the Nativity scene. I was going to direct his attention to the ancient baptismal font where Leonard Pennario was baptized but I was afraid I would come off as too much of a Leonard Pennario fanatic. I talk too much about Leonard Pennario. Look, here it is only hours into 2011 and I have mentioned him three times.

It was a beautiful Mass and after it the Padre chanted the Te Deum. He handed out copies of the Te Deum and said we could use it as part of our night prayers, or morning prayers, or anytime.

You could chant the Te Deum if you are driving in your car! It is allowed.

When we went out into the street they rang the bells. It is funny how you take something for granted and I am used to these bells. George is not. "Are those real bells?" he marveled.

"They are!" I boasted. And sure enough, when we got a few steps away from the church, you could see them, the big iron bells swinging back and forth.

You do not hear that sound too often these days, real church bells. It was magical.

Now I am home and I would have weighed in earlier but I was attending to yet another ritual. It is a ritual which is cleansing but onerous.

It is the annual cleaning o' the fridge!

It was not pretty because the last month or so has been full of cooking, much of it in a rush with no time to keep track of what I was doing. It took over an hour. But I did it!

Now all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed.

I am as ready for the New Year as I am ever going to be!