Church, home or dance hall for new year's eve?

We have joined Gimme’s family in their trip downtown to watch New Year’s Eve fireworks. It is a very cold night, but great fun nonetheless.

When I was younger the tradition was to camp out on Colorado Blvd. and get prime seats for the Rose Parade.

Home! I expect it to be a nice, relaxing, boring night. I plan on having chinese food and Molson Canadian, going to bed, and waking up next year.

I haven’t gone out on a New Year’s Eve in many years. And when I did go out, it was to a friend or family member’s house where I could spend the night. That night seems like it’s when all the amateur drinkers tie one on and do stupid stuff, so I stay off the roads and out of harm’s way.

By amateur I mean people who don’t know how to drink responsibly, so they get as drunk and stupid as possible. They seem to think they have to prove something by drinking way too much. I remember being one of those people a long time ago, but I have since outgrown it.

I stay home and have a special dinner, a couple of drinks and watch some movies. Sounds pretty boring I know, but it’s nice to have a quiet night tucked safely at home.

We have a huge family dinner with at least 25 people at a nice catering hall. After eating, most of us will return to our respective homes, while some will go to others houses.

Pretty normal, quiet evening at home, maybe with just a slight tingle of anticipation. Reflect briefly on Things Not Done.

Quarter to twelve, crack champage, turn on TV, and wait for the ball to drop in Times Square (by delayed broadcast, which makes me laugh every time—I’m in California). Count down, kiss my husband. Watch some show or other in appalled amazement for about ten more minutes (oh, how I miss Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians playing Auld Lang Syne at the Waldorf), turn it off. Back to whatever I was doing before.

New Year’s Day: ceremonial changing of the calendars and writing all the recurring events into the new master calendar destined for the kitchen wall.

My least-favorite “holiday.” I’ve tried it all,and my very best times come when I don’t mark it at all.

I will be working at the hospital new year’s eve. I will get home about 8pm exhausted and sore. I will soon fall in bed and will probably not be able to stay awake until 2009. I will watch parades and football the next day.
I will remember that on new years eve 1977, I conceived my firstborn child, a lovely baby we named Rebecca.

@ Scamp: I’m not criticizing, but it took me a while to give up the fear of staying home for New Years! I went out a few years ago and returned home to find a bullet lying on my bedroom floor! It had just miss the head of my bed where I could have been laying had I not gone out that night. So at home and “out of harm’s way” is not very comforting to me. LOL

for the last 20 years i have spent my new years eve at church. every year, i say to my wife, “let’s just once spend new years eve like the world celebrates,” but honestly, being in that church environment is so eye-opening and so real.

where we live, you could hear somebody popping off a celebratory gun somewhere, but church seems to be the safest place to be to re-establish family and home and the future.

@joni, I’m glad you went out that night…..

@cdwccrn, so am I! But I do agree staying home or going to church is still the best and safest places to be on such wild nights :)

@joni1977 Wow! I can certainly understand why it made you not want to stay home! What a scary thought.I just posted in another thread that when I was younger a man broke into our home and shot at my bofriend, narrowly missing him. We packed up as much as we could in a hurry, and moved out that same day. We never even bothered going back for the rest of our things.

I completely understand your feeling on this subject! I’m glad you weren’t hurt!

@ Scamp: OMG, I’m glad you or your boyfriend weren’t hurt! I hope the shooter was caught!

We probably will have dinner with my parents and then go to my brother’s house, load up however many children and adults with childish ways that there are, go hit the various fireworks stands in the next county, and then go blow stuff up. The various adults will probably drink vast quantities of alcohol, except for me and my husband. Eventually, we will stuff the children and pour the adults all back into the truck and take them home.

Then we will go to our hotel and go to sleep.

You all have it wrong. I get to go to bed with Chinese food and Milo. I expect all of YOU to celebrate my birthday in some fashion or other. If we’re voting for the worst day to have a birthday, it is clearly Dec. 31.

Everyone is busy, either celebrating frantically or hiding and recovering from excesses of the previous week. Restaurants don’t start serving dinner until 10:00PM, treble their prices, including wines.

Oh gail, I’m sorry it’s not a fun birthday for you. It is also my best friends birthday, but we celebrate it without Milo or chinese food. We’ve had a big party every year for the past 15 years. We get all dressed up, eat & drink too much, celebrate our friend and the years coming & going… and stay up far too late.
Come to MD and we’ll toast you as well!

@joni1977 Yes, he was caught. He shot quite a few people on a robbery binge that day, and we were very lucky!

…adding “wish Gail a very happy birthday” to New Years list…

@gail: Well hopefully it will be different this year. Either way, have a Happy Birthday….and a great New Year!

What I really need is a monthly volunteer to help me cut Milo’s nails…never mind all this New Year’s Eve stuff.

My vet showed me a new trick but it takes either one person with four hands or two people and a paper cup muzzle.

On the bright side of getting older, my mother, who just turned 94, has herself a new boyfriend…an 83 yr. old from Vienna. I hope they are practicing safe sex.

@joni and gail: i second that!

8^0

Wow, gail: That’s quite a mental picture! :)

Are you talking about Milo and his muzzle or my mother? Last year she told us she would be dead by her next birthday. Now, look what’s happened. She told us his name was Harry Kleinberg. It took a while for us to discover he is Harry Franklin.

Ah sweet youth.

Gail No offense, but now I’m really pissed.
Your mother has a boyfriend and I’m 50 and cant find one! lol good for your mother!

@cd: what a great memory! I hope your daughter doesn’t mind hearing about it. :)

@joni and scamp: thank goodness no one was hurt! I’m glad you’re both still around to tell us about it.

@gail: I have an atheist friend who was born on Christmas. I try to make it a habit to have a little birthday chat with him.

Whew! Got through my responses finally! I celebrate New Year’s differently every year. This year I’m going to see the Mighty Mighty Bosstones with my boyfriend and then spend a few days at his apartment while his roommates are in Vegas. And just like Gail’s mom we’ll use protection.

In bed.

I haven’t been able to stay up past midnight in almost 10 years.

I am a pathetic not-so-little man.

At home, with my husband and three children. Even if we wanted to go out (which we don’t) we couldn’t this year. My father is getting married on New Year’s Day! We’ll be up bright and early.

Home! I’m too old to be out running around with all those whipper-snappers!
Okay, maybe I’m not but who can beat the safety of being able to drink too much and pass out in the comfort of your own home.

I’m off to visit my Dad in Sweden this year. I think he’s got a house party planned, but not too sure.

@gail, my Birthday’s on the 1st, so I know how you feel. At least on the 31st, everyone’s game for a celebration. Try asking people to come out and celebrate on the 1st with their looming hangovers. ;)

Massive music festival in the middle of nowhere, 3 days of drinking and rocking!

College fraternity reunion. Every New Year’s Eve, without fail.

Partying with friends…..hehe wild nights right there!

@loser lurve for saying whipper snappers!!

We’ll be at home with family & friends coming in. It’s just a safer place to be anymore.

home

Home in bed (asleep). Seattle has accumlated nearly 20” of snow. Makes a long day trying to save my plants and trees and keep driveway open.

Tom: At least you have power. I lost many large limbs of white pines, and lots of slender white birches were torn up by the roots during a severe ice storm. Today I had a kid make four huge brush piles. We burn them next week, with the permission of the local fire department.

To all my new fluther friends: PLEASE do NOT drive and drive. I want to know you all in 2009.

Drive and drive?! ;) I always drive while I’m driving. Quite dangerous not to, IMO.

@damien- I think she meant “drive and drivel.” No one wants to see that. :^)

@knot: I definitely meant don’t “drink and drive.”

Here’s a good idea for the fuddy-duddies, from a f-d friend near Seattle.

”... a way to celebrate New Year’s Eve if you go to bed early, as we
do. Who stays up until midnight anymore? Bah. Just pick a city in
another time zone…
... there are a
number of wesites that make this easy…. some of the southern
hemisphere is on daylight time, which can make things confusing if you
are a stickler…..
“My husband goes to bed early, and if we like we can celebrate New Year’s
at 7:00 in Santiago, Chile, or Bahia, Brazil. or maybe at 8;00, in the
Virgin Islands- that sounds nice.”