For every action, as I unaccountably remember from high school science class (you see, Mr. Clarke, I was listening), there is an equal and opposite reaction. Which, roundly translated to life right now, means that plunged into expansive, hospitable holiday mood I issue to each and every one of my friends a warm invitation to lunch -- only to sit slumped, head in hands, as I wonder how I'm going to feed them and hold on to my sanity. This season is fraught with contradictions: it's a time when you feel friendly, want to see people, indeed want to sit eating and chatting with them, but what with having the children home from school needing to be entertained at all times and in the aftermath of frenzied, family-wrought Christmas activities, you do not always have the energy for the follow-through.
I have to applaud anyone with even the idea of a New Year's Day lunch in their planning. I do not have to worry about feeding all my friends on New Year's Day because I already know my plans for that day. I cook a New Year's Eve dinner of something luxurious for the family and then we play board games and watch movies until midnight. After which we sleep late and goof off all the next day ... except for making it to Mass which is a holy day of obligation celebrating Mary, the Mother of God.
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