New Year Celebrations

We have some very silly traditions associated with New Year's Eve. No one is really sure how they began, "we've just always done it!" We play games such as "under the broom" (which more appropriately should be named who is the skinniest?), "dime in the flour," "Memory," and "Categories." We eat Chinese food and we celebrate at "midnight." Midnight is whatever time is decided to be a great ending time. We used to do New York New Year's Eve, but that has slowly evolved into midnight in the ocean...My dad changes all of the clocks so that it seems really late. We count down until midnight and then pull on the balloon contraption that my dad makes. We spend the first minutes of the new year popping balloons, making noise, & dancing. Funny traditions, I must say.

Parker wasn't too excited about the whole under the broom game. He thought that he should able to sweep instead of go under the broom. This wasn't really his holiday. He crashed well before midnight or "middle of the ocean" midnight as I like to call it. He was just worn out from all of the excitement. There were 20 of the 23 grandkids at this party and 8 of the 10 siblings. So, we definitely had ourselves a crowd. We always love getting together with family no matter how chaotic it might be.

After the celebrations, my Mom and Dad hosted the annual cousin sleepover. (Again, Parker had been asleep for hours). They took the kids and we all escaped to the basement to play games.

On New Year's Day, my parents have their annual open house. There is an enormous amount of food, football, & games. It's perfect for everyone because we can all have fun spending the day together. It was a great last day to our vacation. We had a wonderful time sharing in the MANY parties of the holidays!