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.

Things We Watch Drop

The other evening I was chatting with some friends about New Year's Eve and I was reminded of my resolution years ago to spend New Year's Eve in a different city each year, doing something new and exciting. At one point in my life I had really high expectations for ringing in the new year.  Clearly this was not a resolution that stuck with me, since I just remembered that I had once had such a jet-setter goal, and I have spent a number of New Year's Eves in the same city, doing the same thing. This year we will not be doing anything thrilling. We are going to rent a movie or two, hopefully something about New Year's - any suggestions? And we are going to hope that the kids go to bed easily so we can enjoy the movie. Chances are we are going to be asleep before midnight.

The goal of celebrating New Year's Eve in a new place each year has been rekindled though. I don't know when we will be able to begin working on this goal, but I thought it could be fun to start by going to some places that have fun celebrations involving dropping something at midnight. I am not exactly a Times Square gal, but I was intrigued to learn that the Times Square ball is made of Waterford Crystal. My guess is that folks with cable who watch the coverage from Times Square on New Year's Eve know about the ball being made of crystal, but this news was huge for me.

Here are some entertaining places that drop fun things on New Year's:

Bartlesville, OK: An olive into a martini glass. Who knew Oklahoma was so cosmopolitan?

Key West, FL: A ruby slipper with a drag queen named Gary "Sushi" Marion inside. How intense would it be to be inside the object that is being dropped at midnight? Surreal.

Eastport, ME: A sardine. I love the accents and comments in this clip.

Eastover, NC: "Jasper", the wooden flea. I don't know who I love more, Jasper or the man holding Jasper.

Elmore, OH: A sausage. This New Year's celebration also includes a raw sausage toss and a sausage eating contest.

Beavertown, PA: A beaver. Pennsylvania proves to be the state with the most variety and literal things dropped. Frogtown drops a frog. Carlisle drops a car. Dillsburg drops pickles. I chose Beavertown mainly because this video won me over. I love the captions and commentary.

Mobile, AL: A Moon Pie. Before midnight a four foot Moon Pie is served, and Moon Pies are handed out at midnight. Tasty. I am always up for free food.

Tallapoosa, GA: An opossum.  Somewhat morbid, but quirky all the same. I cannot tell from this clip if the opossum is dead or just terrified.

New Orleans, LA: It was a gumbo pot, but now it is a fleur-de-lis.

I need to get cracking on making my New Year's Eve tour a reality.