A quick Sunday Stream of Consciousness linked up at janasthinkingplace.com, on Monday. Oh well. Five minutes of what our traditional night (the prompt was "traditions") has been in the past and what it is tonight. It's a bit scattered but that's what I/you get for whipping something out quickly without editing.
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We
had a tradition when the kids were small, then middle sized, to ring in the New
Year. We’d chose a time (selfishly), let’s say 10:00pm, to pretend it was
midnight. Was this mean?
It
was a simple trick to pull off.
During
the course of the evening, Daddy would change the clocks ahead and we would
ring in the year when WE wanted. The four of us would head out to the front
porch with pots, big spoon and bang the beJesus out of them for 5 minutes. Yelling
and singing and banging. Then it was a treat and off to bed.
We
were never alone. Most of our immediate neighbors had young children just like
us. And putting the kids down early left just enough time for us young dads and
moms to share some alone time without our wee ones (wink, wink).
It
worked…for a while.
When
the kids got a little older we modified the tradition and included two other
families, all in the same position. The 14 of us would go for an early dinner
at the Sushi House then for Cosmic bowling in the dark with black lights.
EVERYONE wore flannel pajamas! We ate French fries and drank Root Beer. Okay, we
snuck a pitcher or two of the real stuff, too.
The
bowling alley kindly upheld our tradition by counting down the impending year at the
11:00 hour while all the flare of midnight. It was packed with like-minded families and thankful parents.
We were home in time to get them to bed then have a few hours to ourselves
(wink, wink).
Most
years, our New Year’s celebrations have included our kids. And they've always included games and close friends.
This
year…
One
is in Colorado, boarding with a freshly broken wrist. And the other is headed
into the city with her boyfriend.
Dad
and Mom are left to make our own fun with good friends eating pizza, playing
games and singing karaoke.
In
some ways I’m happy they’ve grown up and are doing their own things tonight but, mostly and honestly, I’m melancholy that those shared moments feel like a faint whisper in my ear.
Happy
New Year Everyone! Be safe.
16 comments:
that wasn't mean or selfish, it was brilliant!
Your post makes me notalgic, though. I spent a lot of my teen years with my dad and step-mom and brother, sometimes with friends, playing games on New Year's eve. It was always so much fun!
Oh, oops! I forgot to say have a happy and blessed new year!
Happy New Year! What a great idea to pretend it was midnight at 10pm. Storing that for future New Years! :)
I love the idea of pretending it was midnight. My parents used to have us watch the ball fall in NYC (while in StL) and then say that since it was midnight in NYC, we were good to go to bed - that might be why I hate that ball to this day.
Happy New Year!!
Keep the memories and I'm sure you will have more celebrations with the fam!
Happy new year! Hope that you and your husband had a great night.
You mean to tell me I've been keeping my kids up till midnight so they can watch the big ball drop for nothing? I've been doing it wrong all along!
Next year, I'm going with your brilliant idea!
Happy new year!
Happy New Year trouble. Tried to convince my 8.5 year old that it was midnight at 10 and then she asked if I was drunk.
Too many clocks in the house. ;)
They never really knew or became too tired to care. And we desperately needed some alone time, so we did it. It's how we've always spent NYE, always with the kids or mostly. I was very nostalgic this year.
Same to you, Kianwi!
You should use it. It doesn't work later on but then you watch the ball drop in NYC and 11pm becomes midnight. Oh, we had all sorts of tricks up our sleeves back then to try to get "adults only" time.
As long as we made a big deal about it, they didn't really pay huge attention to the time. We always call NYE "amateur night" so we usually stay in with family and friends.
Happy New Year to you too! It's now 1/2 so I'm a little late in my message to you.
We did! Just fun at friends' house with an awesome dinner, karaoke and charades (boys against the girls. Girls won, of course). I've read about yours and know it was lovely and quiet.
Yes! That's exactly what I'm saying. We messed with the clocks every single year. Next year, give it a try so long as they are still rather young. They become smarty pants around 8.
Happy New Year to you and your family, Dan!
Happy New Year and why do you insist on calling me that. I'm nothing of the sort.
Your daughter is smart like Amanda was at that age. Always so precise. Still is. Matt believed everything or just went along with the fun. And you are never drunk!!! Your kids are beyond the trickery age. You're stuck with them until 12:30am.
It is an appropriate name for you, why not. ;)
I have spent too much time teasing and playing tricks so my kids expect it from me. It is part of the fun, coming up with new stuff that is.
Were you precise like Amanda or more of the go along type like Matt?
I was always fly by the seat of my pants, spontaneous, unpredictable, and gregarious just like Matt is now and always has been but I constantly questioned things especially whether they were "right" or not. I understood consequences very well. Sometimes that helped and other times...
Got in trouble sometimes but not terribly so. I was a bit of a pain to raise I hear and too smart for my own good.
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