3 Jan 2026, Saturday

3 January 2026, Saturday

Prioritized Daily Task

Debbie and I had prayer before starting the day.  Debbie washed bed linen, towels, and clothes today.  I worked on getting my 2025 journal in a format to be printed. Debbie cooked up a New Year's feast, black-eyed peas, yellow cornbread, greens, and pot-licker, sliced a red tomato, buttermilk, and round red velvet cake, fit for a king. This is the first chance since January 1st we have had to have such a meal.  Matthew came down to his office in Provo to get the doors rekeyed and came by the house.  He showed Debbie how to turn on her  Sonny headphones I got her for her birthday and the Sonny music player in the kitchen to work.  I rode with him back to the cabin in Heber and spent the night.  I finished copying each day in my 2025 journal and converting it from an HTML format to a Word format with all my pictures.  I had family prayer with Matthew, Melodie, Madeline, Bella, and Ava.  I called and talked to Debbie, and we had prayer together.  I had my personal prayer and got to bed at about 10:00 pm

Note: For many families across the Midwest, Appalachia, and the American South, the first meal of the new year is more than just a New Year's Eve dinner.  It is significant ritual for hope, luck, and prosperity, bringing people together to symbolically close the old year and welcome the new with feasts featuring foods like pork and yellow cornbread (for wealth), greens (for money), l black-eyed peas/beans (for coins), round cake (for fullness of life) and Sauerkraut (for longevity).  The symbolism behind this New Year’s meal has been passed down for generations.

Southern and African American New Year’s traditions include fried okra and ripe red tomatoes, which carry meanings related to prosperity, health, and ancestral history.