Hogmanay, as you have learned in the Posts of New Years Past, is the Scottish name for New Year's Eve. It is of course, in the Scottish tradition, a time to get completely legless alcoholically, but also a time to count your blessings. Yes, Hogmanay is that perfectly Scottish holiday where you are required to be both A) drunk and B) grateful. Perhaps the old haggis bashers knew that true expressions of gratitude among manly men required a little bit of liquid courage to express...
In that vein, I was asking my mom "what is the name for one of those years where the absolute best things happen to you interspersed with some of the absolute worst things? What do you call that?"
Her response? "That, my dear, is called LIFE."
So there it is. I'm off to get drunk and to be grateful for life, in all its glory, pain, defeat, ecstasy, hope, faith, ignominy and inscrutability. But I don't want to sign off without saying thank you to all you Haggis readers for all you have given me in 2005; my life is richer for having you all in it.
Happy New Year, everyone. May health, happiness, and harmony be yours in 2006. Or, translated into Scottish: "Don't let the bastards grind you down."
3 comments:
Yeah, people blame us Irish for being drunks, but I believe that the Scots don't get enough credit for their enjoyment of things alocholic.
First foot!
"Don't let the bastards grind you down."
Works for me on multiple levels!
Post a Comment