New Year’s Eve has always been one of “those” holidays. You know the ones: sometimes you celebrate it with friends, sometimes you stay home, sometimes you accidentally fall asleep on the couch and miss the hype altogether.
When I was growing up it was always fun to see if we could make it to midnight to watch the ball drop on Times Square (in those days D ick Clark’s Rockin’ Eve was actually still on at midnight and we got to watch the ball drop live). My parents would always make a fun night of it: we’d do something like pizza or take-out chicken for dinner, and snack on chips and fondue throughout the night while playing cards and board games until The Magic Hour.
At both the high schools I attended – first in Missouri and then in Iowa when we moved – the big thing to do with my friends was to get together at someone’s house and rent movies and snack on popcorn, chips and other junk all night. When I’d come home for break while in college, a group of us would go out dancing or out to dinner and eventually end up, again, at someone’s house to wait for midnight.
As a parent, New Year’s Eve now is back to the kids, only this time I’m the adult planning the get-togethers. Usually each of my kids has a friend or two over and we make cheese dip, smokies and pizza rolls, either rent movies or video games and pop the “cork” on a bottle of sparkling cider (or Mt. Dew for the boys, who are “too cool” for cider). Usually I’m alone in the living room while all the kids are off doing their thing in various parts of the house and I have to call them all together at about 11:55.
No matter where we are or what we’re doing, I’ve always enjoyed bringing the new year in with friends and family, taking the time to look back at the past year and forward to the new one all at the same time.