Author: Debbie Roney Smith

Welcome to the New Year: Resolutions

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Welcome to 2022 everyone! The new year has officially begun and you may be feeling the annual societal pressure to create some New Year’s resolutions. However, Dr. Sophie Lazarus, a psychologist at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, believes resolutions should be put to the side. There is nothing inherently bad about setting a New Year’s resolution or using the New Year as an opprotunity to start working on new goals. However, if the drive to commit to resolutions is coming from a place of pressure or obligation, it can create unneeded stress in your life. This is especially true this year as the world continues to try and recover from a global pandemic and a string of worsening climate disasters. Resolutions can be grounding if created with understanding and self-kindness in mind but they can also put pressure on an already strained situation. 

Dr. Lazarus instead advocates for entering the New Year with a general goal of self-improvement; “See if you can be a bit gentler with yourself or give yourself this same kind of grace that you might give to someone that you really love or care about who’s in a similarly challenging situation,” she says. Let go of the idea of perfection, the stress of self-critism, and the belief of having to prove ones worth to others. “So often in these times of stress, we tend to really focus on what’s wrong and what is unknown and what we need to worry about,” she says. “But there are ways that we can kind of try to shift our perspective and even just being more attentive, aware and grateful for the things that are going well or that are stable.”

Lucky New Year’s Food Traditions

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Food is an important part of New Year’s traditions. Listed below are some lucky dishes traditionally eaten around the New Year to bring good fortune in the year to come.

Hoppin’ John: a Southern menu staple originating from the enslaved Africans in the South Carolina Low Country. It is a mix of black-eyed peas, rice, and pork. The black-eyed peas shape to coins, the greens signify money, and the cornbread stands for gold.

King Cake: traditionally eaten on January 6th (i.e. Twelfth Night, Epiphany), the King Cake is a Louisianane favorite. It is a sweet ringed king cake topped with colorful icing and sprinkles; it is baked with a trinket hidden inside. The lucky person who finds the trinket is named “king” or “queen” for the day.

Tamales: bundles of masa stuffed with meat, wrapped in corn husks and steamed. They arrived in Los Angeles and San Antonio in the 1870s. They were sold by steet vendors from Mexico, and have since come to symbolize family as generations historically gather in the kitchen to make the labor-intensive food. 

Toshikoshi Soba: a soup with buckwheat “year-crossing” noodles. Soba is a New Year’s Eve tradition in Japan and is now practiced in the U.S. The long, thin noodles symbolize a long, healthy life, and date back to the 13th or 14th century, “when either a temple or a wealthy lord decided to treat the hungry populace to soba noodles on the last day of the year.”1

Grapes: las doce uvas de la suerta is a Spanish tradition also known as the 12 lucky grapes. The tradition holds that eating 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight—one for each chime of the clock—will bring good luck in the coming year. According to the superstition, failing to finish all 12 in time will mean misfortune in the year to come.

Lentils: an Italian New Year’s Eve feast favorite. Round and shaped like a coin, they’re a symbol of prosperity. Lentils are often served with pork sausage. 

Pork and Sauerkraut: a savorful, slow-cooked favorite for those in Pennsylvania and Ohio. The dish is said to bring good luck and progress; pigs are known to root forward and sauerkraut is made with cabbage, which symbolizes riches, prosperity, and a long life. It is a Germanic tradition that was brought to the U.S. by the Pennsylvania Dutch. 

PCB: Beach Ball Drop

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The annual Panama City Beach New Year’s Eve Beach Ball Drop is back! Head over to Panama City Beach on December 31st to enjoy two different opportunities to welcome in the New Year. There will be two seperate Beach Ball Drops to allow families to attend the festivities: the first is at 8 PM and the second will be at midnight. Additionally, the streets of Pier Park will be closed off to traffic for free live music, entertainment, fireworks, and good cheer! 

 

Reagan Jam

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The 16th Annual Reagan Jam Session is scheduled for today from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. The event is free and will be held at Madison Street Park. Food and drinks will be available for purchase from Penello’s Italian Food Truck.

The event will feature:
Old Country Band
2nd Time Around
Across the Street Band
Under the Influence
Traveling Angels Gospel
Bama Jam
Dry Creek Bluegrass Band
Jeff Peacock and friends

With Soloists:
Emma Reagan
Cierra Culbreth
Eric Aselon
Dickey Merritt
Beth Kidd
Janet Moneyham
Wells Draughn
Sonny Thompson
Wendell White

For more information call Royce Reagan at 850-526-6609.

Florida Frost

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The best way to protect your plants from frost is to make use of natural protections. This means selecting frost-tolerant plants, planting delicate plants close to buildings, and using mulch to help the ground retain heat and protect delicate root systems. 

When there is a predicated frost, you can move potted plants indoors overnight and use appropriate coverings for outdoor plants that cannot be moved. Coverings include sheets, blankets, newspapers, cardboard boxes, or plastic. Plastic coverings should be removed immediately the next day while the other coverings can be left for 2-3 days. 

Christmas!

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Spread laughter this Christmas with any of the fun holiday jokes/puns below:

  • I only have eyes fir yule.
  • Who is a Christmas tree’s favorite singer? Spruce Springsteen!
  • Why does Santa Claus go down the chimney on Christmas Eve? Because it soots him.
  • Shake it like a pole-aroid picture. 
  • What should you say when lighting a Christmas tree? Can I get a “watt, watt?!”
  • Santa and his wife wanted to spilt up, but there aren’t any divorce lawyers in the North Pole. So, they got a semicolon instead; they’re great for separating independent Clauses.

Christmas Eve

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Happy Christmas Eve! Looking for something fun to do to celebrate today? Check out the list of activities below for ideas:

  • Look at Christmas lights! Go for a drive or a walk in the neighborhood. Make it extra special and bring along hot chocolate and cookies.
  • Watch your favorite holiday movies or TV episodes! Make some popcorn, gather the family, and pick a feel-good film to enjoy. 
  • Play a game with the family. Include some spiked eggnog for the adults and hot chocolate for the kids. 
  • Build anticipation for tomorrow by allowing everyone to open ONE gift before bed! Some families pre-choose the gift to coordinate matching pjs for Christmas morning.
  • Bake and decorate cookies for Santa. Don’t forget to leave out some carrots for the reindeer. 
  • Track Santa with NORAD – while the North American Aerospace Defense Command spends most of the year scanning the skies for the defense of Northern America, on Christmas Eve they also keep an eye out for Santa and his sleigh. Help get the kiddos in bed on time, and check out the NORAD Santa Tracker website. 

Pensacola Winterfest

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The annual Pensacola Winterfest has experienced another successful year. This year there were four live-action tour options for the train rides: Polar Express, Cajun Christmas, Grinch, and Scrooge. The tour starts with a pre-tour performance on the courthouse steps before boarding the open-air trams for the journey through town. Each adventure includes special guests — Papa Noel, Jacob Marley, the Cat in the Hat — along with musical performances, live readings, and other entertainment. Additionally, Santa and his sleigh will be downtown each evening for family photos.

The Pensacola Winterfest is holding its last day of events tomorrow so be sure to visit the Winterfest website to buy tickets or find a detailed itinerary of the available events. 

Dazzling Nights

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Jacksonville’s Arboretum & Botanical Gardens is hosting Dazzling Nights until January 9th! Dazzling Nights is a special holiday lights event worth the travel time. It features almost a mile of Christmas-themed lighting through the beautiful botanical gardens. Some of the highlights include a 30ft Christmas tree, interactive ground lights, a winding path through a forest of multi-colored lights, snow, and a 65ft lighted tunnel. Additionally, there will be holiday music, food, and beverages. 

Please note that tickets MUST be purchased online; they are available for specific times and dates, and are not available at the door. Tickets are $22/person on weekdays and $25/person on weekends. Luckily, children 2 and under are free.

Visit the Dazzling Nights website for more information and to purchase tickets. 

Winter Solstice

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Today is the Winter Solstice! This is the shortest day and longest night of the year, and occurs annually between December 20th and 23rd depending on the year. Did you know that the Winter Solstice festival in Ancient Rome was called Saturnalia? Saturnalia began on December 17th and lasted seven days; it was held in honor of the Roman god of agriculture and harvest, Saturnus.

In fact, it is a combination of Saturnalia and Yuletide traditions that helped create modern Christmas as the world celebrates it today. Some of these traditions include (1) the reliance on evergreen plants which is represented by Christmas trees and evergreen decor, (2) a celebration lasting 12 days, (3) the use of mistletoe which was believed to have supernatural healing abilities, and (4) the figure of Old Man Winter or Santa Claus.