10 Inspiring Quotations for the New Year

Setting New Year’s resolutions can be daunting. If you struggle with this task why not draw on the collective wisdom of these poets, authors, and leaders.

inspiration

1. Take a leap of faith and begin this wondrous New Year by believing. Believe in yourself. And believe that there is a loving Source – a Sower of Dreams – just waiting to be asked to help you make your dreams come true. Sarah Ban Breathnach

2. The New Year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals.” Melody Beattie

3. Each year’s regrets are envelopes in which messages of hope are found for the New Year. John R. Dallas Jr.

4. For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice. T.S. Eliot

5. Maybe this year…We ought to walk through the rooms of our lives not looking for flaws, but for potential. Ellen Goodman

6. Every time you tear a leaf off a calendar, you present a new place for new ideas and progress. Charles Kettering

7. We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day. Edith Lovejoy Pierce

8. And now we welcome the New Year. Full of things that have never been. Rainer Maria Rilke

9. Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, ‘It will be happier.’ Alfred Lord Tennyson

10. Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right. Oprah Winfrey

Happy New Year!

Celebrating La Befana

befanaGrowing up, we celebrated the feast of the Epiphany with a special meal and treats. While my brothers and I attached more significance to Christmas Day, my mother considered January 6th to be the Italian Christmas. She would regale us with tales of la Befana, the friendly witch who delivered gifts to good children and lumps of coal to the bad ones.

While I’ve heard many variations of this tale, I prefer my mother’s version.

The Magi stopped at la Befana’s house on their way to visit Baby Jesus. The gracious hostess treated them to a meal and offered them shelter for the night. She also gave them directions. Touched by her hospitality, the three kings invited her to accompany them on their journey, but she declined. She had too much housework. After they left, she changed her mind and decided to join them. She packed up some toys for the newborn child and set off on the journey. She never caught up to them. Disappointed but practical, she decided to share her bounty of toys. To this day, she delivers her gifts to Italian children on the night before the Epiphany.

Does anyone else celebrate the feast of the Epiphany? I would love to hear about your traditions.

HAPPY BEFANA!

SMP Christmas Anthology

This year’s delightful collection of Christmas short stories features a multitude of romantic genres all with one common theme: during the holiday season, nothing’s better than spending it with the one you love.

Twenty talented Soul Mate authors have put together an anthology that’s sure to please any reader who enjoys their romance with a splash of Christmas cheer:

A time-traveling Highlander brings comfort and joy to a young woman grieving her lost family…

Best friends, both widowed, suddenly see each other through new eyes during a snowed-in Christmas Eve…

A royal prince and a commoner fall in love despite their differences and a handful of untruths, thanks to a wreath that grants wishes…

An alien race understands the simple reward of giving, when their human captive does not…

Young lovers planning a Christmas wedding find their promise to each other is put to the ultimate test…

A ghostly groom refuses to stay away from the woman he loves…

For two modern believers, a magical, mystical visit to Bethlehem on the night of the Christ Child’s birth is both a joy and a responsibility…

And many more heartwarming, romantic stories celebrating ‘The Season To Be Jolly.’

Please join us as we tell a few tales, raise a glass of holiday cheer, and deck the halls with romance as well as boughs of holly!