Happy New Year!

 

When I was a kid, we often celebrated New Year's Eve with my parent's church friends. We played games, ate homemade clam chowder, and went around the block at midnight clanging pots and pans.

 

Many years as a young wife and mother, hubby and I would hire a babysitter and either go to a house party or attend a big New Year's shindig on the Navy base or in some other large venue--always complete with great food, lots to drink and dancing. Back then, hubby and I were dancing fools.

 

There were many times though, when hubby was overseas on New Year's Eve and on those occasions, my children and I would celebrate with root beer floats. Sometimes we had a houseful of neighborhood kids to celebrate with us.

 

When we had our residential care home, we always served delicious snacks and root beer floats to our residents, watched a great movie...and never made it to midnight.

 

And that's about what it's like today with just hubby and me. We watch a DVD movie, have snacks and maybe root beer floats and are sound asleep before midnight.

 

Now, New Year's Day is a whole other celebration. We've got a tradition going that involves my daughter, her husband, a granddaughter and her husband and her three kids. I make a wonderful seafood gumbo using the turkey carcass from Thanksgiving with lots of shrimp and crab legs.

 

Afterwards, we play a family favorite--Estimation. This is a wild game of cards that we all love. Yes, even some of the avid football fans join us to play.

 

What are some of your New Year's celebration traditions?