D1 rented a house out in Hamptons with her friends. D2 is going to a NYE party. We were going to cook a dinner at home before she went out, but I decided we should get dressed to go out for a nice NYE dinner in NYC. We are pre-gaming right now with my favorite champagne - the Veuve. I will be in my PJs by 9 tonight to watch the the ball drop.
This will be year 17 of getting together with the same group of neighbors. It started when we all had young kids, who played in the basement while the parents had a party upstairs, and everybody could walk home. A few have moved outside the neighborhood and a few have moved in and joined the party, but mostly the same group. Great to have old friends and watch the kids turn into adults.
We’ll wander on over around 9 with an appetizer and champagne. We used to send the kids out with sparklers at 11 pm CST (midnight on the east coast with the ball drop on TV) and tell them that was midnight. Now we hope they’ll all get home safely from wherever they are. We still do fireworks at CST midnight, which DH provides every year. The local flooding made getting to the fireworks store an adventure, but failure was not an option. Just hope we manage to set them off without any attention from the local authorities. No risk of fire this year.
I fully understand what you went through today. Hope a new year brings your family peace and health.
It’s 8:24 PM and I just got home from the hospital. My wife had a doctor’s appt today and discovered she has pneumonia in both lungs so off we went to the emergency room. My son had to pinch hit for me and finish making our first pizza with dough made in the bread maker we bought each other for Christmas. So I’m chewing on crunchy crust waiting for my wife to call me from her room tonight.
Just got home today from a cruise , so I’ve had enough late night partying to last me quite a while (lots of fun, but I need a vacation from my vacation now!). Tonight will be a quiet evening at home…probably find a movie to watch.
@bookworm, I’m here for the foreseeable future - maybe we can meet for lunch or dinner. My mom missed a step and fell into a marble pillar with a stone base and broke 5 ribs and punctured her lung. Fortunately she has no other medical issues so while it’ll be a long recovery she should be fine. They already moved her to rehab floor of hospital and she started PT today - but I’m still going to be needed here to take care of her dog and to be at the hospital for part of the day. Let me know if you can meet up.
@TonyK, best wishes to your wife for a speedy recovery.
Hosting an alcohol free party for a group of 18 year olds…husband drove them to have dinner in Atlantic City and they are on their way back to the house now. They will spend the night in our garage apartment . Nice to see them all dressed up for each other
@lje62 - I am sure they are all good kids, but if you want to make sure it is an alcohol free party then walk around your property, especially near the garage apartment to make sure there is no alcohol stashed. I would also go check up on them few times during the night and make sure everyone is accounted for.
My kids are 22 and 26 now. They are good girls, but when they were in high school I knew too many alcohol free parties turned into “why there were so many beer bottles” (or other liquor bottles) at my house the day after. I much preferred my kids to go to parties where there were alcohol and parents were aware, so they could watch out for any abuse.
OK the neighbors must have spent their college savings on fireworks! It’s been non-stop for hours, not the little bottle rockets but the huge booming mortars! Yes it’s pretty but it’s so LOUD! We still have more than two hours to go until midnight. The dog is not happy and my ears are ringing! I feel for the other neighbors with very small children - there’s no way anyone could sleep through this!
Either that or one of them just got a job with a fireworks company…boxes and boxes of free samples! How does a 4th of July vacation fit into your family’s schedule?
@Tonyk ugh! free samples? Next year I’m asking Santa for noise canceling headphones!
Did I mention that they are setting these off in the middle of the street? I hope they are done by the time DD drives home from babysitting. Fireworks have always been big in our neighborhood but this year they are out doing the professional shows!