AROUND LEXINGTON COUNTY

Out with the old and in with the new! The ball drop in New York City’s Times Square brought in year 2019 on Tuesday morning.

Many watched and celebrated with a toast and a round of Auld Lang Syne for the good times.

Did your New Year’s meal include our traditional collards and black-eyed peas for good health and fortune? Our family always expects the usual, along with pork roast and corn bread.

Matt Bedenbaugh of Batesburg said his young family goes to his parents, where he knows what to expect — peas and collards!

Summer Schmidt tells us, when living in Arizona, on New Year’s they enjoyed Posole, a kind of soup with chili, hominy and pork.

Suze Fray says red beans and rise, and fried okra were on the menu while living in Texs.

Hoppin’ John is a popular New Year’s dish, particularly in South Carolina’s low country. It is pork-flavored field peas or black-eyed pease (synbolizing coins) and rice, often served with collards or other greens. Greens represent dollar bills and yellow corn bread means gold. Good luck with the results from your menu.

According to authorities, fitness and exercise top the list of New Year’s resolutions. After indulging in all the holiday calorie-laden foods, we tup the scales at a higher weight.

There are technology gadgets that will track your steps and help you maintain your exercise goals.

Right here in our county, we have the Lexington County Recreation Commission, which provides the Lexington Leisure Centers. The Centers offer classes in exercise and weight loss. Call the Lexington center, 108 Park Road, at 957-7828.

Also, there is a Wellness Center where you can benefit from all the weight loss and strength-building eqipment.

During the holidays, did you see the Hite’s Chrsitmas Light Show on Dupree Mill Drive? If not, be sure and ride by next year. It is truly awesome. Even USC’s Cocky visited last week.

Did this Christmas bring about a pecial event or memory?

For us, besides two grandchildren becoming engaged, a six-week-old golden retriever named Doc came to live iwth Charlotte’s family.

All Gamecock and Tiger fans were geared up for their football bowl games. Clemson followers headed to Dallas and USC’s To Charlotte.

At this writing, we do not know the final scores, but we hoe it will be vicotry for both teams. Everybody wants to be in the win column!

Happy birthday to Bernice Gibson, Randy Halfacre, Stig Jorgensen, Paul Ifkovits, Kevein Kempf, Michael Kleinfelder, Ashley Watson, Gavin Farnum, Charlotte Compton, Wanda Ebert, Katelin Gordon, John Nichols, Ron Slice, Carolyn Smith, Kyle Snelgrove, Brooks Benett Jr., Cory Bowen, Callie Helton, Billy Huckabee, Shirley Huisman, John Lyon, Rainey Rabern, Amy Stoudemire, George Stoudemire, Andrea Griffin, Caroline Good, Ethan Hendrix, David MacFawn, Jerry Redman, Ed Smith, Sheila Whitehead, Jeff Harker, Sharron Reams, Sidney Brock, Courtney Fink, Lance Niblock, C-Anne Able, Jacob Hester, Lynn Shane, Myla Shealy, Grgory Blashka, Harriet Kaiser, Veta Holloway, Bonnie Maurer, Jim McFarland Jr., George Stoudemire Jr., James, Massey, Linda Kerr, Todd Shevchik, and Kevin Rose.