Happy New Year! - 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History

That's me in the center, with my siblings Mark and Karen.  I'm guessing this was taken on New Year's Day in 1962.  Mark was 17 months old then; I was almost 5, Karen was almost 4.  It could have been New Year's Day 1963, but then I think baby brother Brian (born July 1962) would have been in the picture.

ETA:  My friend Amy of We Tree has come up with another "52 Weeks" Genealogy series (will try to post on that more tomorrow), but the prompt for this week is: New Year's Memories:

Did your family have any New Year’s traditions? How was the New Year celebrated during your childhood? Have you kept these traditions in the present day?!

Well, this is an easy one.  We eat black-eyed peas on New Year's Day.  Usually I've had to start cooking dried peas early on New Year's Eve, but this year I used frozen fresh peas, so Mark started cooking some ham hocks last night, and when they were done (around 10 PM) I added the peas and some onion to the cooking water.  Lastly, I added some chopped-up ham just before midnight.  We each had a spoonful after watching the downtown Dallas festivities on TV - then went to bed!  We've been continuing to nibble on them all day.

© Amanda Pape - 2011