We have a tradition of hosting a family friendly party each year. We used to be really lame and celebrate New York time and send my siblings home so we could put our little ones down and go to bed ourselves. Now, we stay up until midnight and the kids do too! It is really one of my favorite nights of the year. This year started off with a yummy dinner of sweet and sour chicken, egg rolls and ham fried rice. BYO snacks made sure we were more than sick before the midnight hour!There were meatballs, 7 layer dip, chips, pork rinds (who brought those?), caramel popcorn, chocolate and candy galore. The boys/men watched football, the ladies played Dominoes and the cousins played for hours downstairs. Douglas went to a party at a friend's house where there were females present. I knew that day was coming but I hoped it would be when he was 21! Despite that fact, it really was a great night!
You can always count on Uncle Dallas and Aunt Riza to bring something super fun for the festivities. They are about 30 going on 12! This year they brought 2-foot long party poppers. I warned Dallas that he would be cleaning up the mess when it came time. We thought it might be better to skip that activity but in the end we all couldn't help ourselves. What is so fun about a bunch of confetti flying around the room? I can't really describe it but it seemed the PERFECT way to ring in the new year!
Maybe I could say it is my Valentine tree? Is that too much of a stretch?
You can always count on Uncle Dallas and Aunt Riza to bring something super fun for the festivities. They are about 30 going on 12! This year they brought 2-foot long party poppers. I warned Dallas that he would be cleaning up the mess when it came time. We thought it might be better to skip that activity but in the end we all couldn't help ourselves. What is so fun about a bunch of confetti flying around the room? I can't really describe it but it seemed the PERFECT way to ring in the new year!
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| Top left: Ben, Cameron, Dallas Middle: Kelly, Elyse, Me, Riza Bottom: Wilson, Stockton, Jordan Not Pictured: Aunt Dena (holding baby Sarah upstairs, Russell(taking the picture), Mason (zonked out an hour prior) Douglas (hopefully not participating in a New Year's kiss!) and Grandma and Grandpa Sproul who came for a few hours but went home for a few minutes of peace and quiet! So, now the holidays are over but I still have a reminder of them in my living room! I took all of my decorations down a few days before the new year but just couldn't bear to take down my tree. It really is the prettiest thing in my house and I thought it would be okay if I left it up until New Year's day...which has now turned into January 5th and I know I am not getting to it today.  It is not in my way, Mason is not touching it and it goes so well with my red dining room!  |
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As far as the tree is concerned, just add some conversation hearts here and there and call it good. That way it will be March 1 before you need to worry about it and even then you can just take the red stuff off, leave the green, add some shamrocks and go for another 30 days. Works for me. Oh wait, I'm the one that didn't decorate at all this year! Maybe my advice is worthless.