Comments from the canyons: Ready to greet coming new year

We seem to turn the pages on our calendars faster each year and then have to put up new ones with new scenes. We also have to cope with changing numbers of the year as we write checks and letters. For the first six months, I'll probably continue to date everything 2012 or even 1912 for all I know. We have been using 2000 for more than a dozen years, and I still think in terms of the 1900's. Oh, well, some people tell

me I am a little strange and am very far behind the rest of the world!

At any rate, as we begin a new year, we surely need to begin it with the hopes that it will be a good year and that we can look back on an accomplishment or two with which we are pleased. Although I spend much time doing very little, I like to look back through the many calendars I have changed and hope I have accomplished one or two things that have been worth while. I really believe my greatest accomplishments have

been making friendships with some wonderful people.

As with all major holidays, I tend to look back on some of the ones I have enjoyed the most. Of course, most of them were spent in and around those canyons, and a number of them were spent in the courthouse — two favorite places. New Years' in the canyons were quiet celebrations with a gun shot at midnight. The ones at the courthouse were a little noisier at least because we were so near the fire whistle which blew for a long time and the train whistles which also blew indefinitely because someone would hang them until another person might show up to stop the noise. Even the round house whistle could be heard from there.

Few fireworks were available in those days, but some might be shot off at what was then called the Elks Home. Always some gun shots would be heard and some of the younger people would drive their cars up and down the streets honking their horns. "Watch parties" were held in many of the churches and in many of the schools in the county. Games, singing, and dancing could be enjoyed at most of those as could many

refreshments. People just liked to be together to celebrate the new year and to spend some hours just visiting.

In the earliest days, this woman from Ima had a very hard time staying awake until midnight, but Mother would sometimes awaken me so I could join in the celebration. Actually, I have missed very few midnights in which to greet the New Year and to bid farewell to the old one. Now, I may have to set my alarm just in case I might decide to rest my eyes for a few minutes and fall sound asleep before the magic hour.

Let's all look forward to 2013 and hope that it will be a good one. Have a very Happy and Blessed New Year!

Lynn Moncus is a Tucumcari resident and can be contacted through the Quay County Sun by calling 575-461-1952.