Jan. 3, 2008
New Years Eve -- Gills Rock Style!
Posted in Home Life
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For about 15 years we have had an annual New Year's Eve party at our home. It started when the older children were Jr. High age and it involved a few of the other home-school families. It has grown in numbers, partly because we all had more babies and also because our close friend's now include new families. It is a wonderful time with about 40 attending for the first part and then ending up with closer to 50 or more for the fire works and toasting at midnight. Here is the line-up for the evening: We start with supper that is pot-luck. This year it was lasagna, salads, garlic bread and desserts..... yum! After eating and visiting for awhile we all head into the living room to do the annual Yankee swap. Everyone brings a wrapped gift and then according to the number you drew from the hat you get to open the gift and then exchange for any other opened gift that you want. It is always so much fun and every year there is pair of boxers hidden in a gift as well as two exercise videos, Buns and Abs of steel. We laugh at what comes back each year and also the new things that show up. In the invitation I said that the only unacceptable gifts were children and old cars! We even had a gift that no one could identify the use of...... a metal wheel with wire sections that was on the kitchen wall when these folks bought the house! Lots of fun. Game time starts after that and we try to have a new game and then the old favorites, Apples to Apples, Wise words and Dictionary. The new game this year was Poor Man's Cranium....... very fun! At 11:00 we all head outside for a fireworks demonstration. I am not talking little sparklers......... that was about 10 years ago. Our resident pyro-maniac has grown up and this year rivaled the fourth of July in our town. He did a great job and had worked hard to make a set up where he ran from form to form keeping the fireworks going almost constantly. It was great! Also, the girls started a tradition years ago....... this is a little weird, but we really are into making our own weird fun and traditions up here........ so, the girls all lay in the highway in a tangled mess........ I know, warped!  It is safe, in Gills Rock we have on average 3 cars that go buy from 6:00p.m. and on. They all scream and laugh as they pile up...... weird fun. Close to midnight we all join in the living room where there is little space left after teens and college kids join our party for this part of the night. I pour sparkling apple cider into antique miniature stem ware that I have collected for years. We watch the TV and the ball going down somewhere in out time zone and then we countdown the last ten seconds and toast each other. When we are done toasting each other and hugging, we sing the Doxology, recognizing and giving praise to our creator for all He has done. The harmonies are beautiful as we are a musical bunch! Some folks leave shortly after midnight, but the young adults hang out till around 1:30-2. I was in bed shortly after 2 when the last male guest left the house. The girls were putting on a movie as I went to bed! It is such a special night. There is something beautiful about families with grown children that want to be together on a night that can be viewed as an excuse to party. How wonderful to know our children are safe, having a blast and celebrating as a family together! The morning after........ I was up by 7:30, that is REALLY sleeping in for us! I do stumble around, drinking coffee, trying to focus on food for the day and what needs to get done. I never get the house totally put back because we always have friends over and continue the fun playing games etc.. I served french toast to the folks that were here over night, made a big Irish dinner of corn-beef, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, salad and bread for the 2:00 meal. After that, everyone was on their own! Wonderful fun and lasting memories, a great way to start 2008! |
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