Musik Monday - May You Always

It wouldn't be New Years for me without hearing the bit below.  It's not really music (though it uses Auld Lang Syne in the background), but I thought I'd use it anyway.  The man speaking is Harry Harrison, a radio DJ I grew up hearing daily.  He worked as a DJ from 1953 through 2005, most famously on WMCA, WABC, and WCBSFM.  He not only talked about the music, but also shared personal stories and became a friendly voice for many people.  The clip below was played every year around Christmas and New Year's Day after being recorded in 1965.  You can read the text here, but I'd recommend listening when you have a chance.  It's well wishes and hopes for everyone listening.  It's a small tradition for me that I hope all of you can enjoy.

Rummelpott

This post is quite late considering New Years was a while ago, but I still wanted to share my awesome German New Year's experience with the blogging world.

My parents were kind enough to bring me to Germany during my winter break so that I could see family and enjoy Berlin once again.  My family on my mom's side lives in the very north of Germany in Schleswig-Holstein.  They're either on the North Sea coast on the mainland or on the Island Föhr, which is part of the Frieisan Islands in the North Sea off the coast of Denmark.  The island itself has actually changed ownership between Germany and Denmark several times.  I'm not intending to give a history lesson though (at least not now).


So, I got to spend New Year's with my family and enjoy the North German tradition I've never experienced before!


Here's some of what I saw leading up to New Year's:

Clover plants with different lucky symbols such as chimney sweeps, pigs, mushrooms, and more

Leftovers from Christmas, but who can resist a picture of Santa in a Captain Morgan pose?

Cocktails!  All along the Main street there were booths with drinks.  They're set up at least a week before New Years.  A bunch of them are given awesome regional names.  I went for the Foehrer Fischer Punch and my mom got the Wyker Wahnsinn...hers was better than mine, but both tasty!