New Year Traditions

What are the food traditions in your family? We have some funny traditions in our family.

At the stroke of midnight we toast with sparkling grape juice. We always use stemmed glasses. We use sparkling juice because all ages can be involved.

For dinner on New Years Day we eat a combination of foods. My family has always eaten cabbage and corn beef. We put money in it. Why? My mom used this little trick to get us to eat the nasty stuff. You see, we couldn't keep the money if we didn't eat the food. We wouldn't have prosperity if we didn't eat all that was on our plate. I still put coins in the cabbage. It is fun. Cabbage represents financial prosperity. I researched and this came from Germany. My maiden name originates from Germany. My husbands family always eats black eyed peas and pork. His family gave pork up years ago because of his dad's heart problems. However, this year we had ham. Black eyed peas as a traditional food originated in the Southern United States and represents luck or prosperity. I read in one source that peas and cabbage represented coins and paper money. Pork originated in Germany. As I researched it I found that pigs can't look back only forward. They also keep evil away. In China a pig is looked upon as honest, tolerant and diligent. What a mix of food. Poor kids! What a meal. I added macaroni and cheese just for them.

We spent the day with my sister and her family. We took some good pictures. We are looking forward to the blessings in the year 2009.