Champagne Breakfast 2013

Years ago, when I lived with Brook, Joie, and Charity, we started the tradition of Champagne Breakfast — a brunch on New Year’s Day with the roommates and a couple of other friends who, while not literal roommates, were practically so. Those breakfasts (held maybe three or four years in a row) were long, Kleenex-filled affairs, sometimes lasting until three or so in the afternoon. And they were good, if kind of heavy, marked by a long shared history and deep, lasting friendships. Then people moved away, and although I had dreams of our Champagne Breakfast being a reunion year after year after year, it’s been several years since everyone has even come back for the holidays, and certainly not everyone has been around on New Year’s Day. So Champagne Breakfast was no more.

This year, though, I had a real desire to revive the old tradition. And so we did. Jason graciously took the kids out of the house for the morning, and there was coffee and brunch and, of course, champagne. More important, there was a beautiful mix of good friends, some with ties more than a decade old, and some who were introduced to one another just this morning. It was a delightful way to start 2013, by taking a bit of time to reflect on the year past and a bit of time to look forward to this one just starting.

We each answered three questions:

1. What can you celebrate from this past year?
2. What can you let go of?
3. What do you hope for in 2013?

I am still thinking on my answers. I’m taking my time this year; I’m still feeling like there are a few things I want to think on some more before I call 2012 all processed and done. But I’m also full of hope and energized by the promise of a fresh start, even if it is, in reality, simply another day on the calendar.

One of the rituals that we kept from previous Champagne Breakfasts was doing the toasts. (It is, after all, Champagne Breakfast.) I didn’t write down the ones that came from our celebrating or our letting go, but these are the toasts that came from our collective hopes:

• To dreaming, to living off the land, and to going off the grid.
• To rejoicing with those who rejoice.
• To mindfulness and daily practice.
• To contentment, with or without change.
• To being the mom my child needs.
• To saying scary things out loud.
• To being settled.
• To getting projects done.
• To responding with openness.
• To strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.
• To a life with more joy.
• To seeing possibilities.
• To dancing.
• To other people dancing.