First of all … Happy New Year to you and yours! I hope that this year brings you all that desire and more. I had big plans for New Year’s Eve with the kids. No … I don’t go out and hang in the clubs anymore, even though I have thought about it on multiple occasions. No … I try to find something fun for the kids, my husband, and I to do to celebrate the dawning of a new year. Last night was no different…

I planned for us to have a good old-fashioned movie and board game night. We dusted off the board games … all the traditional ones … Life, Monopoly, Clue … and even some new ones … Scene It and Cranium. We pulled out a few movies that we have been meaning to watch in a while, like The Wiz, Ratatouille, and Disturbia (hey, the kids were gonna pass out after Ratatouille … at least, that was my plan). Then I bought enough junk food to feed an elephant. I had French onion dip, chicken wings, the fixings for a darn good chili dip, soda, etc. In the words of my seven-year old son, tonight was gonna be “awesome!” We would sit up all night, after watching the ball drop on TV of course, and watch movies and play board games. Again … this was the plan.

Now, I don’t like to think that I am an overly superstitious sort but I do have some traditions that I just don’t like to break. One of them is that I like to have my house clean when the clock strikes midnight. Something about peace and harmony … or something like that. Either way, it is a good feeling to bring in the New Year with a nice, clean house. The other thing that I feel needs to be done is that we all must think of one goal that we wish to accomplish in the new year…something that will make us a better person … no matter how big or small that goal may seem.

So, yesterday I went to work with every intention of taking off early and coming home to get the night started. Of course, Murphy’s Law prevailed. I did not get out of work early … at least not by much. I left work at 4:30 pm just to rush to the store, which was packed. I grabbed all the junk in about twenty minutes but then spent the next thirty minutes trying to procure some sparkling cider, which the store was out of. Exhausted and feeling utterly defeated, I head home. I walk in the door and am greeted by a totally messy house. Let me just say, it is not a good idea to leave your seven and twelve-year old children at home under the not so watchful eye of a sixteen-year old love struck teenager. While he spent the whole day on the phone with his girlfriend, the boys took it upon themselves to destroy my house. This was not going to be an easy task. We spent the next three hours cleaning syrup of the wall and floors. Taking down one Christmas tree that just decided that it had had enough and decontaminating a kitchen floor.

By the time all of this is finally completed, it is now almost 9:00 p.m. Thankfully, I made the French onion dip when I got home so we all settled down at the dining room table and, with our bowl of dip, chips, wings, and soda, played a game of Life. Between the bickering, arguing, crying, and shouting, we somehow, amazingly made it through the game unscathed. By this time, it is close to 10:30 p.m. and the baby awakens. We get her all settled and make our way in front of the television to watch the ball drop. With minimum fanfare and all the excitement of soggy cheese, we watched a brilliant example of wasted money and energy descend from the sky amongst a throng of anxiously awaiting onlookers. Party time had arrived!!!

We popped in the first movie and sat down to enjoy what was to be the first of many movies that night. The movie began and that is all she wrote. The next thing I remember is the rising sun at 6:32 a.m. this morning. So much for a well-laid plan. I guess there’s always next year …