The past few New Year's Eves we have been lucky enough to spend with
friends and family, but this year we were facing a solo NYE, and I was
more than a little down about it. That is, until I realized something
wonderful- we could tell our kids it was midnight at just about any time
we chose, go to bed at a decent time, and still have a great night
together! It turned out to be one of my favorite NYE ever.
Avery decorated with her paintings. She is such a Daddy's girl lately!
First Avery and I decorated the house with a string where Avery hung her
favorite paintings from the past few weeks. We set the table as fancy
as we could, and planned a special meal of Caesar salad, homemade pizza
(I let the girls each make their own pie with their favorite toppings,
and I made an adult Buffalo Chicken pizza - my specialty), grapes and
sparkling cider. I even put together a NYE 2012 playlist on Spotify to
listen to throughout the night. It included hits from this year as well
as songs we couldn't get enough of from years' past.
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| Fancy table set, check. Homemade pizza (Buffalo Chicken and Pepperoni and Olive) check. |
After we ate, K bathed the girls while I prepared our evening's activities. We filled out NYE questionnaires for each of us that we plan on reading next year- the answers for the kids were hilarious!-
and played games until about 8:30pm. The games I chose were Sardines
(kind of a reverse Hide and Seek) and Freeze Dance (always a hit!).
Bubbly and a dance party! What could be better to ring in the New Year?
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| Happy New Year! |
At 8:30 we bundled up and went outside to pop poppers and shout Happy New Year! A neighbor came out to comment on our early celebration, but we didn't mind. She either thought it was cute or crazy, but we have a two year old! An 8:30 celebration seemed the responsible thing to do!
Fireworks in the freezing cold!
Our girls' favorite treat- chocolate-kissed raspberries!
After our toast (man, my kids love Cheers!ing [obviously not a verb, but it's the best I could do]) and the eating of the grapes, we tucked the kids in and K and I read/discussed The Screwtape Letters until we were sleepy. I know that makes us sound about 100 years old, but between this pregnancy and all of the late nights we had over our holiday trip to Las Vegas, it was the perfect evening.
Our yearly tradition- eating grapes at "midnight" to predict a sweet or sour new year!
As I always seem to mention each year, this time of renewal and reflection is so exciting to me. I love setting goals and looking back and looking forward and all of the hope and happiness and uncertainty that comes with a brand new year. I can't wait to see what 2013 brings!
5 comments:
So fun! We have been having early New Year's celebrations forever. This year the girls slept at my sis-in-laws and got to bed at 10:15 which is super late for them. Last year though we did fireworks at 8:00 and the girls were in bed by like 8:45! You look wonderful and I'm glad things are going so well for you:)
I loved all the pics. Every NYE Shellena and I talk about that one year we spent it with you and K. How we melted wax and dropped it in water, and then based on the wax's shape, used it to divine how the coming year would shape up. So fun. So fun.
JEALOUS! I'm such a boring, old lady compared to you!
you are such an amazing mom! holy cow. I love how you get your kids involved and give them so much attention. pizza and grapes so cute! playing games. so fun!
I've never tried the chocolate kissed raspberries! That sounds delicious! Your girls are growing up so fast, I can't believe it!
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