New Year’s Eve and Nun-Sense

2020 is behind us! Last night I welcomed the New Year the same way I did last year, at a party with friends. This year the event was smaller and none of us went outside to shoot guns at midnight, but we made some wonderful memories that I’ll share here.

My friend Ada planned the party, and she asked us all to bring a different ethnic food and wear clothing from different countries. Most of us are experienced travelers who enjoy learning about other cultures, so this was a fun twist to the usual get-together.

I decided to go as a nun. A few trips to the thrift store, some clothing from my closet and Mom’s, and beads from Hobby Lobby to make a rosary, and I was ready to go!

Ada and her brother Ivan hosted the party at their parents’ house, in their large basement. I had brought Banoffee Pie, a simple dessert that’s popular in Ireland.

Most of the people are wearing clothing they picked up while traveling. Christina wears an outfit a friend from Pakistan gave her. Not everyone bothered dressing up, which was fine. My friend Linda asks me, “How are you doing?”

“I’m a little self-conscious, actually,” I say. I’ve worn countercultural clothing all my life— but a nun’s long veil and dangling rosary bring things to a new level.

“You look so cute!” Regina tell me. “It suits you just perfectly!”

Well, um, yes, but there’s this thing called the Reformation too…

Once Ada’s rice and curry is done, it’s time to dig into the feast of favors. There’s fried plantains, chicken, coleslaw, cheese— and an interesting looking gray tube-like item that I can’t identify…

Across the table from me is Stephen, a COVID-stranded missionary who lived for a long time in China and Nepal.

He’s laughing. This isn’t a good sign.

“No, I’m not going to tell you what it is until you all eat one, ” Stephen tells us as we poke our chopsticks at the gray thing. It looks like a slug with little bumps, but when I bite into it, some liquid oozes out and there’s a thin piece of white bone, which Stephen assures us is edible.

“Looking at it closely is a mistake,” warns Julie.

A small piece of the bony slug-like thing is still on my plate, so I decide to use the nuclear option— quick insert into mouth with chopsticks, take a big swallow of water, and gulp down the hatch. Now I can enjoy the plantains and curry.

Stephen finally tells us: “It’s duck tongue!”

Dessert is much less adventurous, baklava, maroons, mangoes with sticky rice, and fruit pizza.

After dinner, Ada says “Please vote for the girl and guy with the best outfit.” A little while later, she hands me a New Holland Coffee Company Gift Card. I’ve won the girls’ prize, I’m not sure who got the guys’ prize.

We divide into teams for games. We have to select a person from each team to complete a certain task, like toppling a stack of Coke cans by shooting rubber bands or making a pyramid from red plastic cups. The teams’ “champions” then compete with each other.

While the games are happening, I go upstairs and change from my nun’s habit to my own comfortable clothing.

For the rest of the evening, we watch “The Cross and the Switchblade”, a 1970 film about a country preacher from Pennsylvania who moves to New York City’s ghettos and starts a mission, Teen Challenge, that lives on today.

It’s almost midnight when the movie is over, and we talk about how glad we are to see this year gone and what kind of New Year’s resolutions we’ll make.

We sing several songs. When one of the guys looks at his phone and says “Happy New Year,” we’ve just finished singing “How Great Thou Art”.

Somehow it’s a fitting way to end 2020. Serious and knowing that our God remains the Lord Almighty though the ages and in our hearts.

Happy New Year! May 2021 bring many blessings to you.