Newborns and Toddlers

I had every intention of posting about New Year's Eve earlier, but a certain busy toddler kept me away from the computer. I have a checkered past with New Year's Eve. In the past I have felt too much pressure to have an amazing time on New Year's Eve. The anticipation that this one night was going to be of the best nights of the year that was ending and the year that was just beginning - that's two years worth of nights to beat! - was too much for me. I felt like the expectations could never be met. I started to resent New Year's Eve for this reason. Over the years,  though, I have learned my style and some years I have really hit New Year's Eve in stride. I found that I do like doing something out of the ordinary in the evening, but I definitely don't need a gala event to attend. My style seems to be doing something that would call for lipstick but not really a fancy dress.

This year was somewhat anticlimactic. We were tethered by two small children so I did not expect to do anything huge for the holiday, but I was still thrown off by how almost routine our evening was. We tried our best. I was talking to one of friends and when I told her that I don't feel like I experienced any of the holidays this year she said, "You have a toddler and a newborn; of course you are not going to experience holidays." The more I have talked to friends with children, the more I have found that we all basically did the same thing - rented some movies and prayed the kids would sleep well through all the booms and crackles of fireworks lit by our neighbors, presumably folks without infants and toddlers.

One of my resolutions for 2012 is to celebrate New Year's Eve with a bang. If anything, I will light a  sparkler or two.