I'm so OLD! Geesh! New Years Eve used to be quite an important event for me, something I would NEVER miss, and would spend hours preparing party food for.

Normally DH and I make snack food (I got cold cuts, and a fruit tray and vegie tray from Sams and some cheese and crackers) and sit out in the driveway and watch the plethora of fireworks my neighbors shoot. Which is becoming more common yearly, I suppose a lot of people here feel the way we do about the danger of being out driving around on this particular night. Earlier in the day, we had some much needed quality time to reconnect, which was very nice.

This year, due to hurricane Katrina, fireworks were banned pretty much area-wide, due to the FEMA blue-tarp roofs and the various stages of destruction and construction everywhere. Of course, being that this *is* Louisiana where NOTHING is done as it should be, it sure wasn't enforced in *my* Parish. But to be fair, there are VERY few blue roofs, if any, here - we just didn't get the damage neighboring Parishes did from Katrina.

HOWEVER - that is not to say I wasn't a bit put off and nervous about it, though honestly, there weren't nearly the *usual* number of fireworks here last night.

BUT - it was a foggy night to begin with, and since people starting shooting off their fireworks as soon as it got dark, by 8 PM there was so much smoke and gunpowder and fog in the air, you could barely see. And when it gets that thick, I (having asthma) cannot breathe. So I was content to spend my NYE INSIDE watching the coverage on TV, watching the crowds in NY and the ball drop, and the *shoe* drop in Key West, and the gumbo pot drop in New Orleans.

Plus, I didn't sleep well the night before, and I had ONE - yes, ONE drink of Sheridan, which I didn't even finish, which made me sleepy and want to curl up with a book I'm reading, so it was a true struggle for me to stay awake.

So, old ***** that we are, we enjoyed our New Years Eve glued to the TV and sadly, we were happy to do so! LOL

We've said for years that we want to rent a room in the French Quarter and watch the festivities at the old Jax Brewery and the fireworks display from a river barge in the Miss. River. We thought that would be a bust this year, but it wasn't and apparently there were many hotel rooms available. Oh well - our loss. See, our problem is, we don't want to be driving home late with all the drunks and crazies on the road; I am SO paranoid about the *other* drivers on nights like this!

So........after rambling, to make it short - the 50-somethings enjoyed ourselves watching from afar - in shorts and T-shirts, I might add! ROFL

What did all of you do for your New Years celebration? And what are you doing today? We are grilling baby back ribs and vegies and just hanging out together - DH has to go to Birmingham in the morning for the entire week.

By Dana on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 08:35 am:

I was hurrying to get the kids bathed and into bed so I could go to sleep early. I was so tired! I rushed to the grocery store to purchase formula because I was totally out. Instead of coming home to jump into bed, I saw the little neighbor girl in our garage!

Guess DH gave permission for her to come over while I was out. So, my dreams of an early bedtime were gone. I sat in my chair and watched TV that was unrelated to NYE. Then I watched the last seconds of the ball drop. Wished my family Happy New Year, took the little girl home and was in bed asleep by 12:15.

I didn't even go outside to see the neighborhood fireworks. DH made a fire on the patio and the girls just played in the yard. DD thought it was so cool that she got to stay up so late and greet in the new year.

I haven't wanted to celebrate New Years since I was in college and single (or dating). Once you have a happy home and then later kids I just don't see the excitment of leaving home.

By Conni on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 08:36 am:

Last night we had friends over. They all had kids and so Blake was in heaven. lol We played cards and tried diff liquers (sp)/ flavorings in our coffee so we could stay awake. lol We did share one bottle of bubbly and had a ton of food!

It is extremely dry here and we are under a burn ban. We were pretty surprised when people behind us set off a lg number of fireworks in the pasture across the road from our house. grrr Luckily, no fires were started. And the dogs were so tired they didnt even get up to bark at the fireworks. lol

My oldest went to an *all- night skate party* w/ his friends and I worried about him all night. Between the coffee I drank and him being gone all night- I didnt sleep much at all.
I am just a worry wart.

Today we are having Black eyed peas, of course, w/ ham and cornbread. And we are getting truck and 4-wheelers ready to on a trail ride tomorrow... Have to check all our equipment out, go get brad a new helmet and dh is washing and waxing my truck. While he does that, I have a date w/ 3 stinky dogs and a bottle of doggy shampoo!!

Glad you enjoyed being home. We dont like going out on NYE due to the dangers as well!

By Jackie on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 08:38 am:

Ours was really boring LOL...We played some games with the kids. We had some snack type food for dinner. My 6 yr old was in bed by 9, I think Faith was in bed by 9:30, and my son mad it to about 10:30. I was in bed by 10, but was up several times for different reasons. My husband went to bed early as well as he is still not feeling good. Around midnight I did hear some fireworks going off.Faith was up 2 times last night, so I had a very restless night.
No plans for today. I would like to go to a few stores, Im in need of a new vacuum and maybe some new cookware. How exciting is that for New Yrs Day LOL

By Bea on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 08:42 am:

We had our Open House from 1 until 6. About 120 people were here. When everyone left, we put away food and washed the punch cups and trays. We saw in the New Year in the hot tub. We toasted, kissed, dried off and went to bed. My feet were killing me. ;o)
Tonight we'll have dinner at The Monastery restaurant before seeing The Lion King at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk

By Reds9298 on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 08:47 am:

Stayed in...it was GREAT! I scrapped all evening while DH caught up on some Xbox games. We both did exactly what we wanted and then brought in the New Year together.

I've never gotten too excited about the New Year's celebrations...I guess I've never really gotten the point. I'm weird that way Just another night for us, only I have to stay up later!

By Groovepickle on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 09:19 am:

I worked on sewing some Christmas presents for next year.

By Kernkate on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 09:30 am:

We did nothing, Brett and Alissa feel asleep at 10
I dozed off until 11:30, woke DH up stayed up to 12:30 and back to bed. We are all suffering with sinuses and no one is feeling that great.
Today I am off to bartend from 11-6 at my friends pub for her News Years Day party...Yippee! Should be Crazy!
Have a Great Day!

By Beth on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 09:45 am:

We have been sick off an on all week. But I took the dk's to a party from 7-9 pm at the Children's Museum in town with my friend and her two dk;s. They had food, and fireworks it was nice. The kids went to bed by 9:30 and I drank some nyquil and was out by 10:00. I think dh stayed up awhile longer. That nyquil really knocked me out so as far as I know the whole neighborhood could have been dancing in the streets. I was just ready for a good nights sleep after not sleeping well all week. Today we will just be hanging out watching movies, ect...

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 09:56 am:

Went to my friend's house for supper and games.

Apples to Apples
Guesstures
Guess-a-Doodle
Cranium

Paused cranium to bring in the new year with sparkling grape juice and chocolate birthday cake. Then resumed Cranium, until my friends won. Then we went home!

DH works for the local paper. He got to leave early, but had to listen to the scanner until 7pm. Thankfully nothing happened, that he had to go out and take pictures of. I did hear the scanner talking about a 10-55 driver out on a local road, though. 10-55 is a drunk driver! It was only 7:20pm! LOL! I was glad I was inside of a house! Then Gary turned the scanner off.

We had a blast! My friend made her chicken stir-fry that we put into homemade pocket breads. It's my most favorite thing, that my friend makes! When we walked in and I saw Ted stir-frying and the pocket breads on the counter, I asked him if life could be any better! It's what I was hoping we were having! I made pistachio fruit salad!

Then lots of munchies, while we played our games. It was the perfect New Year's Eve.

Although, DH has a touch of bronchitis and we had to take him to the clinic earlier in the day. So, 2 New Year's Eves in a row, I have had to take someone to the clinic. Thankfully, no one needed surgery this time! (Emily had her appendix out a year ago!)

By Debbie on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 10:06 am:

We didn't do anything. Dh was sick with the flu. My dks were so tired that they were in bed by 8:30. I sat up and watched a movie and then went to bed at 11pm.

Today we are just hanging out. It is suppose to be warm here today, so dh wants to take down the outside lights if he feels up to it. I have tons of laudry left to do from our trip. The boys and I are going to clean out their playroom and make room for their new toys.

By Trina~moderator on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 10:09 am:

Karen, We haven't gone out or done anything special for NYE for years. I would love to go out and party, but besides the fact we don't have a baby-sitter, DH is not the social type and hates going to social events.

Last night the kids went to bed as usual and DH and I cuddled and watched a movie. How's that for excitement?! I was annoyed when our neighbors set off fireworks at midnight for fear it would wake the kids. Guess I'm a party pooper! LOL!

By Karen~moderator on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 10:27 am:

LOL Trina! I've always loved to go out on NYE, but haven't in YEARS, mainly because a) we will not drink and drive, and b) I'm terrified of being on the roads with all the drunk drivers. Even with all the DUI checkpoints, they are out there, and I'm not risking my life.

Pam's family used to have *quite* the NYE bash every year that was a LOT of fun, and I went there many times. They always included a LOT of fireworks and people.
Jen and her b/f went to a party nearby last night, and Jen was the designated driver, since she doesn't really drink anyway, and wasn't planning to last night.

The only reason we haven't gone to downtown N.O. for NYE is because we didn't want to have to drive home afterwards, so *maybe* next year when things are more back to normal, we will book a room in the French Quarter. I've lived here since 1967 and I've never stayed in the Quarter overnight!

By Luvn29 on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 10:59 am:

Well, we all played our first game of Life (with my youngest and me on a team and we won!) while drinking sparkling cider and grape juice out of champagne glasses. kids had plastic champagne glasses that lit up. Very cute! We had snacks, like nachos, and watched some of the New Year's celebrations including Dick Clark's appearances...

Kids got out our party hats and shot off some of their poppers and just ran around having a good time.

Finally it was time for the countdown so we all held our sparkling cider and counted down the seconds and hollered Happy New Year and blew horns and we toasted to the New Year. Hubby and I kissed and kids shot off some more party poppers.

Then I had to unwind the kids and put them to bed. They ended up falling asleep close to 1:00 and they were so excited that they had both made it to see the "ball" drop.

By Mommmie on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 11:20 am:

Son is away at a lakehouse for the weekend with a his friend's family. I finished reading the book A Million Little Pieces. I watched the Mavs-Hornets NBA basketball game bec my brother had center floor seats and I wanted to see if he got on camera. I saw him. Watched SNL - the one with the Napoleon Dynamite actor as host. When Ashlee Simpson sang, I muted.

By Feona on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 11:45 am:

All sick here...

By Sunny on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 11:46 am:

I went to the movies yesterday afternoon, came home and finished reading my book, stayed up with the family and watched the ball drop from Times Square, them went to bed. Not very exciting, but very noisy.

By Crystal915 on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 11:49 am:

Karen, we're right there with you. We had a mini-party with the kids, and let them stay up until 11, so they could watch the ball drop in NYC. We played Sims on the PS2 for the rest of the night, and drank. All of our friends were either on leave out of state, or went out last night, and we weren't interested in paying out the nose for a sitter, some overpriced drinks, and battling the drunks on the road. So, NYE was no big deal here!

By Marcia on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 02:10 pm:

We rented a couple of family movies, and let the 3 girls stay up til midnight. One of them can never do it, and she crashed around 11. We rang in the new year together, and everyone went to bed.
Oh, we always order Chinese Food, and that was yummy!

By Pamt on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 02:13 pm:

We had some friends over. These friends are leaving tomorrow to become foreign missionaries. They will go to Costa Rica for one year of language school and then on to Peru. We won't get to see them for the next 4 years until they are on furlough. It was extra special to ring in the new year with them. Their 2 sons, our 2 sons, and the hubbies went outside and shot fireworks for much of the time. The wife, teenage dtr., and I stayed in and talked and ate and ate. We were pretty boring, but I just really wanted to visit and here about their plans, hopes, worries, etc. as they radically change their lives. We all counted down and watched the ball drop, cheered and kissed, and that was it.

I woke up this morning with a headache, scratchy throat, and stopped up nose. Happy New Year! Ugh! We went to church and I'm back in my jammies for the rest of the day. ABout to go take a nap!

By Kay on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 03:14 pm:

We had one of dh's brothers and his family over, and we ate and watched Must Love Dogs, Sky High, and Napoleon Dynamite. We've been spending New Years with this particular brother since college days, when I introduced him to my best friend, who is now his wife of 22 years. : )

After cleaning up, I got to bed about 3 a.m.

By Cat on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 03:19 pm:

We went to a friend's house and had dinner there. Their kids are all older, but the boys still had fun with them. We played cards and were home by 11:15 and I think we were all asleep by 11:30! lol We did see some fireworks in their neighborhood, and their teenage son (nephew, but he's lived with them since he was 2) and his friends had some, but we wouldn't let them set them off (anything that leaves the ground in CO is illegel). I'd bought a bottle of sparkling grape juice for the kids, but we forgot to take it with us! Oops! Oh well. It was fun. No special plans for today (we did have a potluck lunch after church ).

By Breann on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 03:21 pm:

My DH is sick with a sinus infection. Kids were in bed by 8. Before they went to bed, we had a bunch of fun snacks and let them feel like it was a "party". After they were in bed we watched The 40 Year Old Virgin. We drank Pepsi and had more snacks.

We went to bed about 11pm and I read my book until just before 12. We watched the ball drop on TV from our comfy bed. I went to sleep after that, and DH stayed up and watched something on tv till 1:30.

Today we are dragging!

The scanner was on most of the evening. Lots of drunk drivers and illegal fireworks reports. I was content being safe at home

By Wandilu on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 03:45 pm:

Years ago I would have spent hrs. getting ready,,and brought in the new year at the Starlite club in Nashville,drunk, pretty much estranged from my my dk's.Last night,I spoke on the phone with my son earlier in the day,laughing and jokeing. Then we went to my oldest daughter's house( the one that I was the most estranged from) and had homemade chili,homemade peach cobbler,etc.and laughed and had a great time watching Pirate's of The Carribean.And,a few minutes after midnight my youngest dd called from her job at Vanderbilt hosp.and wished me a happy new year and told me she loves me.I LOVE my "boring" life!!!!

By Tink on Sunday, January 1, 2006 - 09:41 pm:

Well, we were the party animals this year. My best friend and I have been planning this party for months and we had a great time. There were about 90 people there, we had SO much food and drink, we had an off-duty sheriff's deputy checking everyone before they drove away and about half of us slept over so that we didn't even have to worry about being out or figuring out a designated driver. We had a garage band perform, lots of billiards and karaoke, and so much fun. All of our kids were welcome so no one had to worry about finding or paying for a sitter. It was a great time and Whoo boy! I'm paying for it today. I've been a slug all day.

By Karen~moderator on Monday, January 2, 2006 - 10:05 am:

Pamt, I think that sounds like a wonderful way to spend your NYE!

By Colette on Monday, January 2, 2006 - 11:09 am:

Usually dh makes a nice dinner, we have a good bottle of wine and watch a movie. This year we did all of that, but at about 11pm my ds came downstairs to see if we were going to make midnight. I was ready for bed, but he was excited so we stayed up. I ended up getting a second wind at about 11:45 and ended up watching Saturday night live, which I haven't seen in years.

By Tunnia on Monday, January 2, 2006 - 12:21 pm:

We all went to my best friend's house for a family oriented NYE party, as we have for the past 8 years. Since they now live 45 minutes away (they used to live across the street, but moved in August) and they were having other people there who were spending the night, we took our fifthwheel to sleep in so we wouldn't have to drive home. They live on 23 acres of woodland in the middle of nowhere so it was fun "camping" there. The stars were amazing! We live in the suburbs of a large metro area and I can't remember the last time I saw so many stars and such a dark night. I'm ready to move away from the city now! We spent the evening eating, playing games, singing along with the 70's channel on the satelite radio (no commercials and great music, I want one!), and visiting. We were supposed to bring our karaoke machine which is an annual tradition, but I forgot it at home this year. We had loads of fun and the kids also had a blast. New Years Day we spent visiting with our friends and eating leftovers. The kids spent the day playing and running through the woods. It was relaxed and really nice to talk to my friend face to face again. Due to busy lives, we don't get to see each other much since she moved.

By Boxzgrl on Monday, January 2, 2006 - 12:43 pm:

We had a potluck with the neighbors and I got bored so DH, DD and I went home. Kaitlyn went to bed at 9. DH and I watched The Exorcism of Emily Rose and went to bed around 11. We're so exciting, lol. You'd think we'd have plans considering were not even 25 years old and in the middle of the fun in So Cal but nope. I'm old at heart and scared of drunk drivers.

By Mrse on Monday, January 2, 2006 - 02:24 pm:

We rented a hot tub, and just had my sister and brother in law over, and all our kids were here, we made up the usual trays of munchies. But....... One of my bil friends showed up, bil felt guilty being new years and his friend being alone as his girlfriend passed away I think it was 2 years ago, and to him it is like it was yesterday, so after a few drinks he usually gets weepy, we were not thrilled as my dh does not like him at all.Anyway
he got so drunk that he went to stand up blacked out and crashed over my coffee table fell on the floor , and for a couple of min was out like a light, bleeding of course from all the wine glasses he just smashed, every one in the room was frozen, I leaped up assessed the situation, and started yelling for a cloth as their was blood dripping from his mouth and he was in a puddle of it. I got him sitting up on the floor and wiped off his face he had a cut on his lip. So that was the big excitement of the night, bil was so mad at him as he has been hitting the bottle really bad since his girlfriend died, he really needs help. So we just cleaned up the glass, carried on with the festivaties playing games, sitting in the hot tub. In the morning we got up and ( he) is on the couch still drinking wine!! which he proceeded to drop and wine went flying all over the floor, bil was really choked by this time and took him home, not before he stumbled and almost broke my crystal lamp. My coffee table has some scratches it is beyond me how it survived him falling on it I just can't beilve it. So you see I am glad new years is over. Next year no party watching movies that is it!! Happy New years to all