New Year’s Eve is such a different animal than it used to be.  While we used to plan for parties centered around whooping it up, we now plan parties centered around kid-friendly activities.  Four couples decided to get together at one house tonight.  We had 8 adults and 7 kids and a basement with a door.  Perfect combination.  We fed the kids before we went, because it’s no fun to get the kids to eat at these things; they just want to play with their friends.  So we all brought “heavy appetizers” and basically we snacked and drank all night long.  The kids’ activities were as follows:

there was coloring…

…movie watching…well, kind of…

…and precisely at the stroke of midnight (which was really about 10:25) we counted down from 10 to one and all shouted, “Happy New Year” and gave our family members kisses.

The kids were toast by then, so basically after our fake new year, we all packed up and headed for home.  The kids were in bed and we were plunked in front of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve by 11:20.  Now here it is the cusp of the new year and everything is quiet around the house.  In fact, Dave’s having a bit of trouble staying awake until the big event!  My how things have changed.

Happy New Year, everyone.  May 2012 bring you good health, great happiness, and much prosperity.