Happy New Years.

Reunion came with enough warning, but I still found myself taken by surprise. This Reunion I had decided to cook big meals for breakfast and dinner. Homemade biscuits, eggs and sausage, bacon, home fries – breakfast itself was an adventure. Then came a quick nap before jumping into cooking for dinner. I had prepped the vegetables the night before. Cutting up the carrots, leeks, potatoes, and then cooking the food that could be prepared beforehand, saved me much needed time on Christmas-Reunion day.

We had a small party with family and friends. There was soup, and many roasted veggies, and a roasted chicken. Pie and cream cheese brownies, not to mention other cookies, were there for dessert.

It was a wonderful day. I spent the day after catching up on sleep.

Previous Reunions have been very Laetha and Dierne-centric to me. I have been able to understand those gods and their relationship deeper. This Reunion I felt closest to the Ophelene and Liathane, as well as some of the other spirits. It was a welcome change. I had often suspected that the ‘focus’ of a Reunion could shift from one pair of gods to another as time went on but had not yet truly experienced such.

My association with 2016-2017’s Reunion with the Ophelene was only strengthened when preparing for the new year. I love journaling (and writing in general, truly shocking), and so I am utilizing a reflective journal in 2017 to help with self-improvement. I found myself contemplating virtues I want to cultivate in this new year. Whether ‘ambition’ or ‘faith’, I could tie the virtues to the Ophelene. I could tie them to each of the gods, of course, but the Ophelene had been large in my life for 2016. Hopefully, I can take the lessons I was beginning to learn into 2017.

Resolutions are, of course, a large part of the death of the old year. One resolution I made was to share more of my writing. I did not write as much last year as I wanted, but my ultimately failing was not sharing my writing. I have a high word goal this year. I am resolved to share half of my writing of that.

I am also reading some books I have found immensely helpful in my spiritual life in the past. I never finished the books. If I put my mind and dedication to it, however, I am sure I can completely the books this year. I do have to factor in the more general life considerations – schooling, looking for work, household tasks – but that shouldn’t be an issue. Theoretically.

For this site, I’ve a fair amount planned.

• Basics Posts: -1K word posts covering the very basics of the gods, following a similar format.
• Masterposts: long posts covering in-depth information of the gods as we currently have it, with complete links to relevant information and references
• Fanfic: new oneshots each month and updates to ongoing stories once a month as well
• Weekly Songs: these posts will be returning, on Mondays
• End of Week Post: ideally around 1K word posts concerning the events of the past week and covering prayers, rituals, altars, and other in-progress religious shenanigans

I look forward to going into 2017 with you all. I leave you with the playlist for my family’s Reunion: you can listen here.