The end of 2020, the year we thought we saw coming so clearly
December 28, 2020
This is the awkward week between the December holidays and the New Year that kind of shuffles along for a few days while trying to decide what to do. Some people try to hang on to the holiday trappings in hopes of prolonging the joy (and shopping business) while others have already packed and tubbed everything away until next December.
There are still a few plates of goodies left in kitchens and offices, but it’s getting slim.
Last year at this time, we were preparing all sorts of fun marketing ideas for the year 2020. Being able to see clearly, having 2020 vision, planning special events on 2-20-2020 were all “ha-ha, funny” for about a half-minute. By the end of March, the two 2020 zeros became rolls of toilet paper. No one saw that coming.
To help do our part for 2021, I’m going to give you all a grocery list. Everyone has their New Year’s Day good luck traditions depending on where their ancestors were from or where they were raised. And that might be the problem. I was raised in Florida but was born in Ohio. So I need to eat black-eyed peas and cabbage or sauerkraut with pork, cornbread and greens.
But maybe if everyone does their part and we also cover the traditions of lentils, grapes, oranges and honey, pomegranates, fish, noodles, rice, round cake, and buttered bread … we might get this thing turned around. The world would thank us. Everyone please pick something.
There are also a lot of other lucky traditions we can do, and it certainly won’t hurt at this point. Let’s all get ready on New Year’s Eve to dress up, not eat lobster or chicken, make a resolution, make noise, and enjoy fireworks. We also need to either wear red or yellow underwear to have good luck in either the 2021 love or money areas. Or I guess you can double-up for both.
To prepare for Jan. 1, 2021, it’s suggested you have your cupboards/pantries full, have cash in your wallet, be prepared to not do any cleaning on New Year’s Day, don’t cry, and don’t leave your house in the new year until someone enters.
But the New Year’s Eve midnight good luck traditions are the best. After extensive research and a few personal moments of hysterical mental images, I have determined it is possible for us to combine them all do these simultaneously at midnight in the privacy of our own homes to save the world. Readers, unite with me here for the good of the globe. You might want to write this down:
As the clocks strike 12 o’clock midnight to usher in 2021, whilst dressed in our finery over red and/or yellow underwear, we shall all at the same time:
Eat herring and 12 grapes while sharing a kiss and opening every door to the house while carrying an empty suitcase around every room and singing “Auld Lang Syne.”
Charlotte County, we can do this. Who’s with me? Please send your photos or videos as proof to tashley@charlottecountychamber.org and you just might see yourselves on our Facebook page.
Charlotte County Chamber activities continue.
The Charlotte County Chamber of Commerce is open each week day to assist our members, visitors to the area, and the business community as a whole, but will be closed at noon at New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. In January, we will be off and running as we continue to support and advocate for our members and the economic vitality and quality of life in our region.
Our 2020 Annual Report is in the works and should be ready to roll out before Feb. 1. In the meantime, planning is well underway for the next Leadership Charlotte and Junior Leadership Charlotte programs, the new Ambassador Program, and the remaining 2021 programs, events, and activities. And of course, there just might be a few new ones thrown in there as well.
From the Charlotte County Chamber of Commerce, Happy New Year!