A new year of promise

Today is all about making preparations for New Year's Eve. We are shopping for food, cleaning the house and cooking extravagant food. It's a pleasant time in our family as we enjoy the Christmas holiday together. Mom is cooking an even more spectacular dish than last year, which she plans to serve in a vase between actual flowers. Dad is playing with his Christmas present, a Raspberry Pi, and teaching me about programming.

The house is still decorated for Christmas, but most of the decorations will have to go tomorrow to make room for the New Year's decorations. That means putting away a lot of red and gold to replace with purple and silver. Our winter landscape in the window will also be boxed, but the tree gets to stay.

The tree stays tomorrow

Resolutions and expectations

I've never been one to use New Year Resolutions to make changes in my life. I like to think it's because I change too fast to wait for New Year. But this next year is bound to bring change. Going to New Zealand will change me, and I want it to. I think I'd like to become more Kiwi, hence the blog title, but honestly I don't know much about being Kiwi. For the record, I'm not talking about the kiwi fruit.

Not that kiwi.

Nor am I talking about the bird, although we are getting closer to the point.

Not that kiwi either.

I am talking about the people of New Zealand, who got their nickname from the national bird of New Zealand. For reasons I don't yet know they like to identify with the flightless, hen-like bird that is unique to their country.

These Kiwis.

Everything I've heard about them seems wonderful to me. The few Kiwis I have met have all been friendly, talkative and casually cool. Friends who have visited New Zealand tell me of the beauty of its nature and so does the tourist information you can find online.

It promises to be a great trip.