Out with the old
Hey, how are you guys doing? Can you please answer a few questions for me? 1) What are your New Year’s Eve plans? and 2) How many Christmases do you celebrate? (For example, do you travel to Grandma’s, have a celebration with your own family, and then travel to your significant other’s family? That would be three Christmases.)
As for us, we’re going out to dinner tonight and then relaxing at home by finishing up our 2007 cribbage, foosball and dart tournaments. (I am totally losing in cribbage and darts, but thank god for foosball.) For the Christmases, we have five, FIVE Christmases to celebrate every year via various family and family-offshoot gatherings (actually 6, before we decided to rotate families every other year) and it is getting to be a bit much, what with all the traveling and the whole “driving instead of relaxing” that happens. So we’re going to figure out a way to fix that while still retaining holiday cheer and familial harmony. Yeah, right.
Anyway, I’m finishing up a cold, so I’ve got to go before my nasal passages pledge their entire contents to the Kleenex Foundation Telethon. Have a safe and fun-filled New Year’s Eve and we’ll see you in 2008, where I’ve vowed to eat more bacon and yet eat healthier at the same time.
1) After all the craziness of having my family here for a week, I’m actually looking forward to a quiet evening with the hu’band at home. After the kids are in bed, we’ll probably watch either “It’s a Wonderful Life” since I’m bummed that we didn’t get to it over Christmas or else our stagnating Netflix movie “Seven Samurai.” They’re both long enough that we might even stay up until midnight, but maybe not. Long though they may be, they’re definitely no “keep you awake” movies either…
2) Usually have one Christmas, occasionally two. Our families live far away from us and each other, so there’s rarely an issue. But we are trying desperately to eliminate the idea that we have to alternate Thanksgiving and Christmas with both families each year. We’re thinking of adding a summer visit and a stay-at-home to the rotation mix to keep us from having to travel every stinking holiday. Plus now that we have our own kids, it’s more hassle to travel and I want them to have memories at our home too. This year was nice, the new house gave us an excuse to make everyone come to us!
Comment by Gretchen — December 31, 2007 @ 11:51 am
1) My office is closing early and Torsten’s is officially closed, so we are going to a matinee of Charlie Wilson’s War before going out to dinner, then going home to relax, watch movies, play games, etc.
2) We only have one Christmas in general, though in the past I’ve had multiple mini Christmas gatherings with various family members at different times, and could foresee doing that again in the future.
Happy New Year!
Comment by Jess — December 31, 2007 @ 11:53 am
So far my plans for tonight are nill, nada, not much. But I’m holding out hope. As for Chistmases, I usually celebrate two or three but this year it was one, and good thing because my family took about 1.2 seconds to make me crazy.
Comment by Amber — December 31, 2007 @ 12:38 pm
Friends of ours just moved into their first house, so we’re going there for food, a few drinks, games and general merriment. Since I am on antibiotics YET AGAIN for strep throat, I am Sober Driver. Woo hoo!
As for Christmases, I guess we have three: We go to my sister’s on Christmas Eve (because she’s got a six year old and he goes to bed for SANTA at 8pm),make cookies, open our gifts with her, read T’was the Night Before Christmas and after Hunter’s in bed, Tom and I help my sister put all his gifts out and write a note from Santa. I love this.
Christmas morning, Tom and I open our gifts to each other at home, then we ALL (my sister and nephew included) go to Tom’s parents’ for late Christmas morning, open more gifts and have dinner there. Phew!
Comment by stephanie — December 31, 2007 @ 1:17 pm
1) Eat soup at home. Bathe both boys. Put them to bed. Crack open a bottle of red wine. Watch a few episodes of HBO’s The Wire. Go to sleep by 9:30.
2) Three. One on Christmas Eve with all the kids at my parent’s house. Then Christmas morning as a family & with my husband’s parents. Then back to my parents for the extended Come-One-Come-All dinner.
Comment by Erin — December 31, 2007 @ 2:50 pm
1) Scrounge up something for dinner. Bathe kids and get them in bed. Clean up a little. Go to bed. Wake up at 12:00 and go outside to yell at the neighbors to shut the fuck up, people are trying to sleep. I’m kidding, I’ll just THINK it.
2) Two or three, depending on where my oldest daughter is (here or at her dad’s). This year, three. In fact, our third is tomorrow, when she arrives home. The others were here Christmas morning and my in-laws the following Saturday.
Comment by JMC — December 31, 2007 @ 4:29 pm
ONE Christmas thankfully (or not, I guess that is less loot for us!)
Also, we did nothing for New Year’s as far as going out went. I made a nice dinner which we all ate and our son went to sleep early (YEAH!). I read a little while watching something trashy on TV than my husband & I played some card and board games we have not played since our son was born almost three years ago! (I got my ass handed to me in Boggle but kicked my hubby’s butt in Yatzee and in Crazy eights we came out even.) We curled up in bed to ring the new year. Hooray!
Comment by Christina — January 1, 2008 @ 2:56 pm
I love your new header, once again!
I celebrate a minimum of three Christmases every year and you’re right, it’s tough without a moment to relax. Tis the season!
Comment by Stephanie — January 2, 2008 @ 10:54 am
We had three Christmases this year, and New Year’s Eve involved our couch, some booze, insane pets, and cable television.
It was really nice.
Comment by blacksheeped — January 2, 2008 @ 1:35 pm