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Happy New Year 2026

January 1, 2026

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Blogging about Appalachia since 2008

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74 Comments

  1. Happy New Year to all and may we each be touched by the hands of our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with blessings beyond measure. Dear Tipper, Matt, Katie, Corie, Austin, Paul and Miss Louzine, I’d like to thank y’all for including all us in you lives each and every day. You bless us just for being there and all you do. Thank you again for the BPAA VLOG. May 2026 be your best year yet.

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  3. I’m a new follower on your blog, ( finally figured out out to get to it) Happy New Year from Southern California! I love watching you all, I love your recipes, and how close of a family you are, I love your life style and how you basically live off the land, and your love of each other… we don’t see that much anymore. Thank you for all you do♥️

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  7. As the Blind Pig here, I want to wish all you Acorns the happiest and most prosperous New Year ever.

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    1. Well, you gotta be one or t’other, Cousin Ed. . . . And I already claimed to be the blind pig. LOL

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  9. Happy New Year to you, your family and all the BPAA subscribers. May God bless all with a Happy, Healthy and Fun year in 2026.

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  12. Happy New Year to you, Tipper, and the entire BP&A gang, as well as your fans! I enjoy them all. Thanks so much for the joy and nostalgia you bring to our inbox every day. May 2026 be your best year yet!

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  16. Went to bed at my usual time last night (New Year’s Eve), but woke at midnight when the neighbors started shooting off fireworks. So I welcomed the new year in after all. Wishing you all a blessed 2026!

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  18. As the years go by, we can sometimes reflect that we are too soon old and too late smart.
    We kinda can’t control the getting-old part, but we CAN kinda control the getting-smart part.
    Happy New Year to all, and hope we are all a year wiser than this time last year, and that this time next year if we’re still here (Lord willing) we’ll be even wiser still.

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  22. Happy New Year to everyone!! I pray we all have a better 2026 filled with prosperity & good health and a closer walk with our Lord. I look forward each morning to a good cup of coffee & visiting with the Pressley, Wilson & Graddick families and of course, the Acorns’ comments.
    Prayers for Tipper & family & special prayers for dear Granny Wilson.

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  26. Happy New Year, Tipper and family and all the BP family! You all bring such joy into so many peoples lives, including mine, thank you!

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  28. Happy New Year Tipper and Matt I hope each new day brings you Blessings. Everyone here on the Blog, youtube and up Wilson Hollow is in my prayers. I love Y’all.

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  36. Sunny and bright here this morning and no wind. A good beginning for 2026. We had a good watch service last night with about 30 people. From all y’alls comments through the years I know many of you would have enjoyed it also. We know what our hopes for the future are built on.

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  37. Happy New Year! Praying God blesses each of you, readers and Tipper and family! Thank you for the joy and love you send into the world each day. ❤️

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  38. Happy New Year to the Peessley/Wilson/Graddick clan and also all of the truly wonderful Blind Pig subscribers. You all brighten each and every one of my days! God bless you richly in the new year!

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  40. Happy New Year to everyone. When thinking about everything going on nowadays in the world, I can’t help but wonder what it will bring. I know the BP&A will be a spot of joy and happiness for me.

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  42. Happy New Year to everyone. Have a safe, healthy and prosperous year. Thanks, Tipper, for sharing your life with us. God bless you and your family. Granny remains in in our prayers.

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  46. Happy new year to all of you! I look forward to meeting with you each morning and hearing your thoughts, prayers and stories.
    Tipper and family, much love and prayers!

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  49. May GOD bless each of you and provide special protection for our country in 2026. Happy New Year and thank you for the enjoyment you provide to so many.

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  53. Happy New Year, Tipper, to you and your lovely family and especially your dear mother and the grand babies. I pray 2026 will be a year of happiness, good things and peace for you and your sweet husband. May it be a good year filled with blessings for all the Blind Pig Family too!!! I feel blessed to read your comments every day and sort of “know you all and look for you all to comment.” Thank you, everybody, for making this a place I delight in going!

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  54. A very Blessed and Happy New Year to all of you at the Blind Pig and Acorn. New Year’s Day has a very special meaning for Diane and I. While living in Hawaii in 1996 I reached out to an old friend who use to work for me at New Hampshire State Hospital. Using the internet I found him in Lake Wales Florida and using the phone number in my search I called him. No answer and no return call. I called again several days later with the same result. At that point I figured I had the wrong result on my search. Two weeks after my first phone call I got a call from my friend’s wife saying they had just left on vacation the day before my call. When they got back they heard my voice mail and she called because my friend had to go to work at Disney World. When he returned he called and we caught up on the years we had been apart. He finally asked me if I was dating anyone and I said no. He said he had the perfect woman for me and he wanted me to write her. I said no way. I wasn’t going to write someone out of the blue who I didn’t even know. My friend bugged me with phone call after phone call to have me write her. I finally gave in and wrote her a three page snail mail ( she didn’t have email) and a week later I got a reply. That began a long process of writing to this person I had never seen and getting to know her and her getting to know me. Her marriage had ended over a year ago and she had two children. So our relationship began ad strangers then as someone you know to good friends to very good friends to my wanting to actually talk to her on the phone. I got het phone number and my friend arranged a time that she would be home and awake. The call was wonderful and strange at the same time. We spoke for over an hour and made a date for the next week. I called her each week at the same time for several months until I wanted to hear her voice more often. My calls became twice a week to four times a week to everyday to first thing in the morning for her and at night before she went to bed. I had to hear het and tell her of my days in Hawaii and she told me of het days in Florida. I made the big decision to ask het to marry me over the phone. She wasn’t home so I left a voice mail with my proposal on it. You need to know that at this point I have not even seen a picture of het but I knew her. During our letters and phone calls we opened up and spoke about who each of us was. She called back and said she couldn’t accept at this time but was delighted with the proposal. She said she could not leave Florida because her whole family lived there. I understood completely. I knew that if I married Diane I would have to leave my apartment near the beach in Waimanalo. No hesitation. I made the move without knowing if she would marry me or not. If she didn’t I would still have a great friend. My friend who introduced us told me he could get me a job at Disney World so I left Hawaii. Believe it or not the first time I saw what Diane looked like wax when I got off the plane in Orlando. I had sent Diane and her children the same tee shirt with a baby dolphin on it for them to wear so I would recognize them. To make a very long story short we made the decision to get married on New Year’s Day in her church. Her love of my love of Hawaii turned into our wedding being an Hawaiian wedding with us being bare foot, her wearing a tradition Hawaiian dress, me and the best man wearing aloha shirts and white pants and all being bear foot. We all wore hand made Hawaiian leis, even the pastor. Only Hawaiian music (even the spiritual songs) were in Hawaiian. Pastor A J Stevenson of First Assembly of God said over the years that our wedding was the most original he had ever officiated. We have been married for 29 years now and my love for this beautiful has grown with each passing day. Before leaving Hawaii I emailed all my friends and told them I was moving to Florida. The one email I got back wad from Brother Iz (the most loved and admired Hawaiian singer of all time) said he wad sorry I was leaving because I wad a haole (non Hawaiian) with true Hawaiian blood in him. When Iz died a state funeral was given to him by the state of Hawaii. But that’s another story. So last night at midnight Diane and I watched the ball drop at midnight and this morning began the next 29 years. Sorry about the length and I left so much out but when God brings someone special into your life don’t ignore God’s hand. Have a very Blessed New Year.

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    3. Ron, I know what it feels like to find a good friend after so many years. I found one of my best high school friends after about 50 years of not knowing what we became of him. I found him by doing something similar. Now we talk to one another by phone or text message about every week. My love story is not like yours. My wife and I started out in January of 1972, I was sitting in the back of our church not listening to the sermon but checking out the girls when my eyes locked on her and never left. After the service, I asked her if I could call her, she said yes and it went from there, between “going together” and marrying in 1974, this year would be 54 years. I liked to tease her and tell her God punished me for looking at girls and not listening to the sermon. That is the biggest lie I have ever told, she was the heart and soul for not only me but our family. She was 16 and I was 17 when it started.

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    4. Ron, I loved reading your’s and Diane’s amazing love story! Happy Anniversary, wishing you another 29 blessed years together!

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  55. Happy New Year everyone!! Tipper, I wish I could send you some of our snow. We have so much this morning. I haven’t been outside yet, but it looks like a foot on our carport roof…and it’s still coming down . We were awakened in the middle of the night by a couple loud claps of thunder believe it or not. I believe we will be celebrating the new year by staying inside for the day…except I am sure hubby will go out and shovel a path or two. He loves to do that. Have a safe, warm, and wonderful day!

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    2. Brenda, it was not unusual to hear thunder when it snowed around my neck of the woods. It has been several years since we had any snow. After having to drive 35 mile round trips at all hours of the day or night for 38 years, it suits me fine to not have it. The snow would usually start off as freezing rain and would be a sheet of ice before turning to snow. Now it will be cold for a few days and then change to almost spring like temperatures, next week day time temps are predicted to be in the upper 60’s.

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      1. Randy, my hubby drove two hours each way to work and back for many years. I am thankful he is home with me now and not driving on the bad roads. We are supposed to be in the 50’s next week too. There will be lots of melting snow!

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  56. Happy New Year to you and your family. I have enjoyed your videos and making recipes from your cookbook.

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  58. Happy New Year to you and Matt and the whole Pressley family. As well and Granny. May God Bless and keep you this new year.

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  61. happy New Year everybody, remember to thank God for another day, another year, and pray for guidance through the new year, God bless Granny Wilson
    happy New Year everybody

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  62. Happy New Year!

    Thank you so much for bringing some stability and joy into my life and many others too.

    God bless y’all in 2026

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