Happy New Year! I cannot believe it is already 2015. Time really does seem to fly as I get older — just like my Nana said it would. At this rate, I should hit warp speed somewhere around 75 years old.

Spaceman and I spent the holidays this year in Finland with his family (we will be alternating years between the US and Finland now that we are married). One of the fun traditions the Finns have for New Year’s Eve is the “tossing of the metal” as I have dubbed it. Here is how it works:

• 1. Each person takes two small horseshoe-shaped pieces of metal and places them in a dish over a hot stove to melt.
• 2. You then “giggle” your metal in the pan to be sure the whole thing is melted completely.
• 3. Removing the pan from the stove, you quickly flip it over and drop the hot metal into a cold bucket of water.
• 4. The metal quickly hardens into a shape which you remove to reveal your future for the new year.

                                               (my tree or broccoli shape)

Mine looked like a tree (or a piece of broccoli) with all sorts of fuzzy fringe at the top. I was told the fringe symbolizes money so my new year should be a lucrative one (suddenly I really liked this game).

                                             (Spaceman’s sailing ship or dragon)

Spaceman’s was more the shape of a sailing ship from the old days (or perhaps a dragon)…not quite sure what that means, maybe more travel in the new year? I am rooting for travel — my tree provides us the money while his sailing ship provides us the destination, great team work!

How did you all spend your New Year’s Eve?