ew Years Day in Lilliland

ome time ago Baron Von Lodge was the head of a small country near Switzerland known as Lilliland.

While not everyone in Lilliland celebrated in the same manner on New Years Eve, they did celebrate it the same way on New Years Day.

A big parade in the center of town started off the day’s activities. Visitors then usually went ice-skating or skiing until early afternoon, then retired to a large festive dinner at their hotel. After dinner they would congregate near the large fireplace, with a piano player, and sang all evening.

The residents, back in their homes after the parade, gathered around the dining room table and one at a time spoke about their future aspirations for the coming year. They also talked about some New Years resolutions or goals.

The Baron usually went over to Lady Angela’s Alpine Castle after the parade for the afternoon. Then around teatime, Professor Hamblin, the Baron’s chief advisor, would arrive to lightly discuss some of the plans for the future of Lilliland.

The Professor usually brought along some special Lilliland Fruit Cake that he had specially made by one of the castle bakers, from an old family recipe.

Many people expected that a country’s royal family should be very outgoing and right in the center of all the celebrations, but the Baron chose to keep everything subdued and let the guests and tourists be the center of the activities.

If the weather was very mild, the Baron and Lady Angela might go horseback riding, and if the weather was ice cold, they might go skating on Lilliland Lake. It seemed that there was always something interesting to do during the seasonal holidays.

A few times, Lady Angela tried to cook her Alpine Castle secret stew. The reason it was called a secret was because she did not want anyone to know all the ingredients. Both the Baron and the Professor would pretend to enjoy their piping hot bowl of stew for fear they might never be invited back to Alpine Castle again. But it was always a joyous time for the royal family and everyone else in Lilliland.