I admit, I’m not much of a partier. As a kid, New Year’s Eve didn’t hold much of a thrill for me. I usually went to bed early because I woke up with the sun- so staying up until midnight didn’t always appeal.
Then I worked at Disneyland. Nothing will kill the thrill of partying on New Year’s Eve when you’re in a boat surrounded by 40 guests with noisemakers. Though, my favorite story from New Years happened one year when I worked at the Tiki Room. There I was, out in front, ushering in people to see the show. A guest walks up to me and says “Did you know that the tiki god is on fire?” I looked at him, knowing that Pele had just done her speech and erupted in flame. “It’s Pele, she’s supposed to.”
The man pointed. “No, it’s on fire.”
And it was. Someone had put one of the plastic hats they give away on Pele’s head, and now that she shot off flames… it was on fire. So I quickly ran to the back, grabbed our fire extinguisher, put out the fire and called our Fire Department. (By the way, using a fire extinguisher is really fun)
The fire was out, but unfortunately, the gas the keeps Pele lit was still flowing, so the show had to be shut down until they could turn the gas off. So the rest of my night was spent telling people that we were closed.
But I’m getting off topic.
Now that we have kids and live with the in-laws, it would seem like we could go out. But last year the in-laws went out, so we stayed in. Which was fine- I made appetizers, we watched TV and rang in the New Year with a champagne toast. And apart from all the time I spent making the appetizers (since I procrastinate), it was a lovely time.
So this year, we decided to do the same thing- only we’d buy the appetizers. My in-laws were staying in, so I bought a bunch of frozen items from Trader Joe’s (Mushroom turnovers, Ham & Cheese Flatbread, Feta & Caramelized Onion Pastry Bites- all wonderful) and a simple three layer dip that I’d made earlier in the day. We watch The Big Bang Theory and laughed our way into 2011. I’d bought a bottle of prosecco and we toasted midnight. (For those keeping track, this was my first and only drink since Jerad died. The toast seemed like less of an indulgence and more of a tradition.)
The food was lovely, as was the company. Of course, today’s been rough- staying up until 1 am isn’t a good idea when you have two boys that get up with the sun.