It's never too late for an old dog to learn new tricks. Or to come up with some himself.
Growing up, I can't remember one New Years' celebration. I do believe that I just went to bed at the normal time (sans fanfare) and woke up the next morning to a bowl of cold cereal.
When I married John, he expected to do something on New Years' Eve. Until we moved to Germany, that something was to grill a steak around 8:00, followed by watching a movie on TV.
When we moved to Germany, New Years' became an EVENT. Germans go all out for fireworks at midnight. All kinds of fireworks--the ones that stay on the ground, and the ones that shoot into the air. There's nothing at all illegal about them, and because Germans don't believe in easy litigation, no fear for safety either. It's fantastic!
John and I decided to throw some pretty awesome New Years' Eve dances and parties while in Germany. It involved renting a hall and a deejay. Or renting a hall and hosting a gaming tournament. Either way, once midnight approached, everyone headed outside for the fireworks...and made us promise to do it again the next year.
(As a side note, I did once try to host a fun New Years' Eve dinner with traditional, meaningful food from around the world. Just about the only thing anyone would eat were the clementines, so I gave up on that idea.)
Since returning to the States, the fireworks aren't near so fun, and in all honesty, people here aren't much for parties. Thankfully, we have grown children now who are great substitutes for the friends we used to have, and they are up for anything.
Last year, I tried to start some new traditions. After all, if we Kennedys can't do anything else, we can at least host a pretty awesome party. I would post the details, but since that evening involved a certain unforgivable person, and a tragic engagement, we won't talk about it.
This year, however, was highly successful. In fact, there were requests for some of the same things we had done the year before (but again, ssssshhhhhh.....) We decided to once again throw a genuine potluck--you know, where no one makes any plans for the food and you just see what you come up with. On the afternoon of New Years' Eve, we headed out in separate cars to buy the ingredients necessary for our individual food offerings.
Oh my goodness, if I hadn't been so excited by everything everyone made, I might have taken a picture. But no, I didn't, and honestly, we couldn't have planned a more fabulous dinner than what we had if we'd tried.
Let me see if I can remember everything everyone made:
John: Martinelli's (turns out, he got the last four bottles at Wal-Mart)
Larisa: barbecue meatballs
Ethan: cocktail shrimp
Rebecca: pretzels topped with Hershey kisses and M&M's, warmed in the oven
Mark: shverma (fresh from his Russian memories of all things tasty)
Johannah: apple strudel
Glo: fruit kabobs
When everything was ready and on the counter, it was a FEAST! So much good stuff and only so much room in our bellies! Too, I had leftover party hats and leis from almost 15 years ago. We pulled them out...because we could. Baby Annie rocked hers the best:
Then, it was onto "poppers". I don't where these originated (I'm guessing England), but you buy them pre-made and loaded (I've had great luck with Pier One), and then pull the opposing ends. A surprise package comes out. The paper crowns are a given, but this year they were all filled with various magic tricks. It was great fun, sitting around the table, preparing our tricks and then performing them!
Finally, my favorite part of the evening. Everyone gets a piece of paper and writes anything bad from the past year that they'd like to get rid of. I'm talking about grudges, or bad habits, or anything that has been a burden. We usually keep these things rather personal and don't share them, but Mark was rather public about his list which involved everything revolving around a certain someone who basically wasted a year of his life :-)
For me, it's a reflective time. There is something cathartic about writing down burdens on a piece of paper. It's like I'm giving the paper all the badness that has sat in my heart.
Too, on a smaller scale, I encourage everyone to set one goal for the new year. Last year, we tore them off and saved them (mine has been taped to my computer for the entire 2015), but Mark had the great idea of just taking a picture.
Then, the moment everyone had been waiting for. Last year, we tried to burn the paper in our garage with matches, but as it turns out, photo paper doesn't burn. This year we were prepared. We have saved every piece of paper, wrapping and box from Christmas. In fact, the pile in front of our back door had to be scaled by the dogs every time they went out.
We took all the paper garbage outside to our fire pit and began burning it all.
Words can't describe the fear in some cautionary hearts as the blaze reached over three feet in height with winds gusting at 20 mph. Nor can words describe the delight in other danger-seeking hearts as the blaze reached over three feet in height with winds gusting at 20 mph. As the pieces of burning paper began floating away over our property, Ethan decided to take matters in his own hands. He would chase them down with his 2-liter Sprite bottle (filled with water). The idea, of course, had been to reflectively place our burdens/hates/habits on the fire and reflect on the symbolism of disposing them. However, the whole experience turned into more of Nature daring us to even come close to the flames. We wondered if we would lose a hand, or set ourselves on fire as we flung our papers onto the fire. Symbolic in a different way, I guess. After all, it IS hard to get rid of our bad habits and ways, isn't it? In the end, it was something to laugh about.
We got through most of this before 9:00, because the playoff game between Michigan State and Alabama was on. Let's just say that Michigan State might need to set some better goals for their 2016 football season :-)
We played games, and waited for midnight.
It may have taken me 45 years, but I do believe this old dog has finally mastered New Years' Eve.
Growing up, I can't remember one New Years' celebration. I do believe that I just went to bed at the normal time (sans fanfare) and woke up the next morning to a bowl of cold cereal.
When I married John, he expected to do something on New Years' Eve. Until we moved to Germany, that something was to grill a steak around 8:00, followed by watching a movie on TV.
When we moved to Germany, New Years' became an EVENT. Germans go all out for fireworks at midnight. All kinds of fireworks--the ones that stay on the ground, and the ones that shoot into the air. There's nothing at all illegal about them, and because Germans don't believe in easy litigation, no fear for safety either. It's fantastic!
John and I decided to throw some pretty awesome New Years' Eve dances and parties while in Germany. It involved renting a hall and a deejay. Or renting a hall and hosting a gaming tournament. Either way, once midnight approached, everyone headed outside for the fireworks...and made us promise to do it again the next year.
(As a side note, I did once try to host a fun New Years' Eve dinner with traditional, meaningful food from around the world. Just about the only thing anyone would eat were the clementines, so I gave up on that idea.)
Since returning to the States, the fireworks aren't near so fun, and in all honesty, people here aren't much for parties. Thankfully, we have grown children now who are great substitutes for the friends we used to have, and they are up for anything.
Last year, I tried to start some new traditions. After all, if we Kennedys can't do anything else, we can at least host a pretty awesome party. I would post the details, but since that evening involved a certain unforgivable person, and a tragic engagement, we won't talk about it.
This year, however, was highly successful. In fact, there were requests for some of the same things we had done the year before (but again, ssssshhhhhh.....) We decided to once again throw a genuine potluck--you know, where no one makes any plans for the food and you just see what you come up with. On the afternoon of New Years' Eve, we headed out in separate cars to buy the ingredients necessary for our individual food offerings.
Oh my goodness, if I hadn't been so excited by everything everyone made, I might have taken a picture. But no, I didn't, and honestly, we couldn't have planned a more fabulous dinner than what we had if we'd tried.
Let me see if I can remember everything everyone made:
John: Martinelli's (turns out, he got the last four bottles at Wal-Mart)
Larisa: barbecue meatballs
Ethan: cocktail shrimp
Rebecca: pretzels topped with Hershey kisses and M&M's, warmed in the oven
Mark: shverma (fresh from his Russian memories of all things tasty)
Johannah: apple strudel
Glo: fruit kabobs
When everything was ready and on the counter, it was a FEAST! So much good stuff and only so much room in our bellies! Too, I had leftover party hats and leis from almost 15 years ago. We pulled them out...because we could. Baby Annie rocked hers the best:
Then, it was onto "poppers". I don't where these originated (I'm guessing England), but you buy them pre-made and loaded (I've had great luck with Pier One), and then pull the opposing ends. A surprise package comes out. The paper crowns are a given, but this year they were all filled with various magic tricks. It was great fun, sitting around the table, preparing our tricks and then performing them!Finally, my favorite part of the evening. Everyone gets a piece of paper and writes anything bad from the past year that they'd like to get rid of. I'm talking about grudges, or bad habits, or anything that has been a burden. We usually keep these things rather personal and don't share them, but Mark was rather public about his list which involved everything revolving around a certain someone who basically wasted a year of his life :-)
For me, it's a reflective time. There is something cathartic about writing down burdens on a piece of paper. It's like I'm giving the paper all the badness that has sat in my heart.
Too, on a smaller scale, I encourage everyone to set one goal for the new year. Last year, we tore them off and saved them (mine has been taped to my computer for the entire 2015), but Mark had the great idea of just taking a picture.Then, the moment everyone had been waiting for. Last year, we tried to burn the paper in our garage with matches, but as it turns out, photo paper doesn't burn. This year we were prepared. We have saved every piece of paper, wrapping and box from Christmas. In fact, the pile in front of our back door had to be scaled by the dogs every time they went out.
We took all the paper garbage outside to our fire pit and began burning it all.
Words can't describe the fear in some cautionary hearts as the blaze reached over three feet in height with winds gusting at 20 mph. Nor can words describe the delight in other danger-seeking hearts as the blaze reached over three feet in height with winds gusting at 20 mph. As the pieces of burning paper began floating away over our property, Ethan decided to take matters in his own hands. He would chase them down with his 2-liter Sprite bottle (filled with water). The idea, of course, had been to reflectively place our burdens/hates/habits on the fire and reflect on the symbolism of disposing them. However, the whole experience turned into more of Nature daring us to even come close to the flames. We wondered if we would lose a hand, or set ourselves on fire as we flung our papers onto the fire. Symbolic in a different way, I guess. After all, it IS hard to get rid of our bad habits and ways, isn't it? In the end, it was something to laugh about.We got through most of this before 9:00, because the playoff game between Michigan State and Alabama was on. Let's just say that Michigan State might need to set some better goals for their 2016 football season :-)
We played games, and waited for midnight.
It may have taken me 45 years, but I do believe this old dog has finally mastered New Years' Eve.
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