New Years Eve 2021…

Last year on New Year’s Eve, a few in the family tested positive for COVID which meant we had a quarantined evening and some isolated family members. I was happy the circumstances were different for us this year. Although the rain put a slight damper on our evening, it didn’t stop the kids from living in the hot tub and playing with sparklers.

Our older kids are getting to a stage where the want to hang with friends on New Year’s Eve – surprise, surprise. So we gathered three families who were all missing their two oldest children. We had a delicious spread of snacks and food and we brought in the new year at 11:15 (bless those recorded ball drops) and were home by midnight. How great is that!?

We somehow managed to buy the smokiest sparklers I’ve ever seen. It made for some really eerie effects.

I have a box in the garage labeled “New Years/Cinco de Mayo”. Over the years, I’ve collected all sorts of New Years Eve celebration paraphernalia. (It’s probably time to get rid of all the 2018 glasses!) My sister-in-law loves to go all out and she’s been with us the last couple years so our box is well stocked. We keep beaded necklaces, noisemakers, hats, glasses…it’s a party in a box. And it also happens to be our Cinco de Mayo decor which is why some are sporting a sombrero. 🙂

And just like that we got a new year, and a new start. The gyms are packed and cookie consumption is down – at least this week. I love the new year. I love when the Christmas decorations come down and the house starts to feel normal again. Until I decide to pull a beginning of the year project that may or may not last the majority of the year. My new year’s resolution is to finish last years projects. Wish me luck!

New Years Eve…

We closed out the year with dodge ball, cotton candy, games, fireworks and family – there’s no better way!

Some years we let the kids stay up as late as they want – other years we cap it. This year it was capped (much to our children’s chagrin) – most the group was doing a long hike the next morning so there were just a few that were up at midnight. We partied loud at 10 pm (when the ball dropped live in New York) and then we had a quiet party at midnight as to not wake the kids who had already made it to bed. Because surely they were all sleeping just as we had asked them to…

As I crawled into bed around 1 am I heard some stirring upstairs so I quietly made my way upstairs to investigate. To my surprise, I found some of our boys playing games by flashlight in the dark, complete with snacks!

They were not about to go to bed before midnight. And who knows how late they would have stayed up had I not caught them. Crazy boys. They didn’t quite grasp just how long and exhausting their hike would be the next morning.

2019 was a great year and we’re hopeful that 2020 will follow suit!