You may also have noticed I'm doing a lot explaining why we celebrate different holidays the way we do. I feel like we are now in the groove of how our family is going to celebrate holidays for years to come. It took a while to figure out what traditions worked for us and what new things we wanted to add. This is the same for New Year. Melodie's first two New Year's Eve celebrations she was up at midnight.
For her first one, we celebrated, just the three of us, at 9 o'clock PST. That's when the NY ball drops on the east coast. Technology is our friend sometimes. I'll admit it. I wanted those Kodak moments. We had been invited to a friends' house, and decided we would go if she woke up for a feeding around midnight. She did, so we bundled her up and off we went.
The next year we were in Northern California with family. There was a huge rain storm and we didn't think Rocky would make it back to my mom's house from family he was visiting a short distance away because streets had flooded. Plus, Melodie was sick. This is probably the sickest she ever was as a baby. But, we celebrated at midnight. I'm not sure if she was awake because she was sick. I do know we didn't wake her up. I don't think we tried to keep her up, although we might have just because we were with family. She still looked pretty sick, but it was fun celebrating with family. Plus Mel had her first taste of Martinelli's. Now she doesn't think we can have a New Year's Eve without it.
2008 was the first year we invited people over to celebrate at 9pm. It was a small celebration, but fun. Plus the kids were in bed by 9:30.
2008 NYE
The next year it actually turned into a party. I know call it our East Coast New Year's Eve Party. One tradition that started this year was throwing those snaps fireworks in the front yard. Another was Martinelli's after the ball dropped. One that was kept from my childhood was turning the Christmas Tree into the New Year Tree. This is accomplished by taking all confetti from off the ground and throwing it on the tree.
2009 NYE
2010 NYE
By the way, I was pretty proud of this cookie bouquet I made that year.
2011's party brought about a new tradition. I found this idea on pinterest, which led me to this website: http://partiesandholidays.blogspot.com/2008/12/new-years-eve-count-down-bags.html. Starting at 7 o'clock there was a bag to open every 1/2 hour. Inside the bag were goodies for all the kids. I remember I put in glow sticks, necklaces, noise makers in three of the bags, but I can't remember what were in the other two. This year I did bubbles, glow sticks, balloons, and noise makers (not doing one for 9pm like I did the year before). I focused more on things that gave them something to do (I was still sick and not really into entertaining). 2011 was also the first year I made jello in little cups. I didn't think about how much they looked like jello shots until just before the party. But the kids loved them, and we had to have them this year too.
2011 NYE
2012 NYE
And now we are in 2013. We don't make resolutions, but we have a lot to look forward to this year. We'll spend the next month preparing for baby, who will arrive sometime in Feb. My youngest sister graduates from high school this year. My niece turns 8 and will be baptized this year. Who knows what else will come our way?
Happy New Year!
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