We were planning to go to a dinner party in our neighborhood, but the hostess came down with Covid. Instead, we made homemade pizza, I baked a super yummy cake (cardamom cake with rose water infused whipped cream). Dined with our daughters, then drove them to their planned festivities at 9pm. An hour or two of binge watching a season of Loudermilk, then in bed by 11:30. I vaguely remember hearing fireworks at midnight, but otherwise, slept thru the big moment.
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It’s a rice and black eyed peas dish. It’s common in the South but there are other similar dishes around the world. Wikipedia has a good page on black eyed peas and mentions cook-up-rice which is a traditional New Years Eve dish in parts of the Caribbean and South America. Black-eyed pea - Wikipedia.
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I made latkes for another old-lady friend and made a gigantic mess in my kitchen. Headed to a wonderful French restaurant in Williamsburg (called Juliette in case anyone is interested). Alas it was kind of loud and my friend complained about it the whole time. I suggested we use earbuds and talk via the phone but she had none.
Then I took the subway 3 stops to Union Square and visited one of the very few official marijuana dispensaries and got some good stuff to help with sleep. Took the subway home, stopped one stop before mine so I could take the bus to my corner.
Came home and cleaned my kitchen. Much easier with a little buzz on. Who says boomers can’t have fun? And I truly enjoy living alone after so many years.
Below, photos of latkes and the tool I used for the first time, having heard about it here on CC. It worked really well but I made a huge mess!
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We heard about that tool from @ChoatieMom , I think. I also bought one!
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When I was little my aunt always had us over for New Year’s dinner and she always put a dime in the black-eyed peas. If you got the dime, you were supposed to have good luck all year. The kids used to scrape the bottom of the bowl with the spoon over and over to try to find it but the catch was that you had to eat all the peas you scooped up. 
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Hubby and I planned a small gathering with 4 couples, but one of them got the flu and the other got covid. The remaining couple was coming from a distance, so we decided to reschedule. It was just going to be just the two of us, for the first time in over 23 years.
I randomly texted a friend who has just moved into a new home. I asked if we could come by to say hello, during the day. But we ended up getting a takeout with them and had a very nice evening, chatting away.
I confess that I have always found NYE to be anticlimactic. It never seems to live up to the hype. I’ve been feeling sorry for myself and have been moody because I am now a fully-fledged empty nester, so I was very glad for some company. I feel like 2024 is this big void filled with unknowables. I’m definitely overthinking it, but I am struggling right now to see how I will adjust to not having to do anything at all for my kids. It’s hard, but I will probably spend a bit of time reading the “what do you do with an empty nest” thread 
As has been the norm for the past 25 years or so, we had a new years eve party at our house. About 25 people this year. What was nice was we had several of the kids (they are still kids, even if the youngest is over 21!) over. S loves to cook and so he took over the cooking this year - I was his sous chef! The theme was fusion food and my, his food was delicious! He made a masala chai rusk tiramisu that was out of this world!!
Played the OK Boomer game since we had about even numbers from two different generations. Lots of laughter all around - had to stop the game to pour out the champagne for the toast. Wonderful evening - so great to be around the folks we love.
Happy New year everyone…
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I’ve never been a big New Year’s Eve person. This year we were out of town and had a simple dinner of leftovers from the night before. We were in bed by 10. When we are home we usually go to a neighbor who has a big NY day party. We were oceanfront for three days and that was a wonderful introduction to a New Year. We enjoyed the sound of the water and the waves crashing so much that we will do the same next year.
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