Since Bean was a wee tiny fellow, five months old, we have kept him on New Year's Eve. On his third New Year we added Missy Bugg. So this is eight New Year's Eve's as grandparents. On his second, when he was 17 months old, we began the tradition of taking down the tree and moving it outdoors on New Year's Day. We made pinecone bird feeders to give our feathered friends a winter snack. I didn't think he'd think to much of it, one way or the other, but even so small, he enjoyed messing in the seed.
There wasn't much tradition to New Year's Evening as they weren't up for ringing in the New Year for several years. This year they were old enough and when I said I'd bought hats and horns and sparkling grape juice, my boy responded, " Umm, don't be offended, but I thought you were too old to stay up that late." After laughing a lot I informed him it wasn't my strong suit, but I'd taken a nap and then had a big mug of coffee, so I was prepared.
What to do? Last year I believe it was science experiments. This year, the temperature was fairly mild for December- in the forties, so I asked Handy Man about a bonfire. He thought it would be great.
Up the hill we went for hot dogs and marshmallows and a not too scary ghost story.
Bugg declared it all good when you have " a warm fire, a warm marshmallow, some warm hot chocolate and a warm girl." I couldn't argue.
Lilli asked if it was midnight yet at about 8:00. When she found we were a ways from the big event, she curled up in my lap and went sound asleep- still with her little ketchup mustache.
In case you didn't know the big news, Peter Jackson and cohorts finally have a release date for The Hobbit. I am so very excited. We started reading the book to Bean, while Miss Bugg napped.
Pappy introduced him to all thirteen of the dwarves. Bugg slept about a half hour and woke up happy.
Handy Man and I have been throwing out and cleaning. There was some old stuff to burn and the kiddos loved tossing it in the fire.
We didn't come into until about 11:00. A bit of play, then time to watch the ball drop in NYC.
Time for some bubbly and to call Mom and Dad for a Happy New Year's!!
hah! love it. I think the kiddos had a bigger night than we did. after dinner we were home by 8 and watched movies until 11:30 then were in bed reading when you guys called. :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat sweet pictures and a sweet story. My 3 grandkids stayed with me, too. Roger and I were having a small steak and sparkling wine for supper but they got there early. We got pizza for the kids. The parents brought sparklers and Jaime and Aaron came back after their early dinner to set off some fireworks on the golf course. They got bored though since it was so many hours till midnight. In the end only Jill was still awake when the ball dropped. We were all in bed and she came into our room to do the count down. I will have to plan more activities next year. Happy 2012!
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had fun. We always have friends over for dinner on New Year's. It's a horrible night to go out! But New Year's with the grands would be fun as well. I think all of mine would make it until midnight and beyond!
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