Our furniture and household effects are still somewhere between here and there. We have a card table and chairs that Auntie gave us and a cast-off mattress and box spring on the floor in our bedroom.

Our austere living conditions did nothing to dampen our spirits, however, on the eve of the new year.

Jillian brought all of her cookware and we spent the afternoon making our family’s traditional New Year’s feast: candied ham, black-eyed peas, smothered cabbage, mirliton dressing, and satsuma custard pie.

We feasted until dark, then Norm lit up the bayou with a host of fireworks. We danced around in the yard like a bunch of fools with our giant sparklers. I was sparkling on the inside, too.

There is no place I’d rather be.

***

Happy New Year, My Friends

May you find many sparkles in 2013.