Firstly, Happy 2004 everyone!
And now, with the main post...every year, I spend New Year's with my family and a couple other families and every year, without fail, I am chided by my friends for not hanging out with them on New Year's Eve. But the main reason I love hanging out with my family and another one is the extreme fun we have every year. If I had gone out with my other friends, the amount of fun would not even come close to what I had this year. First, we started off with the New Year's Eve movie, which, over the past three years has been Lord of the Rings. After that, we returned to the other family's house (they live 5 minues from the theater) and my parents, along with the other adults began their drining with some wine. After killing a couple hours, we headed to the usual New Year's Eve dinner locale, Muldoons.
Usually, we arrive at Muldoon's earlier in the year, but due to the Lord of the Rings scheduling at the Edwards in Newport (big screen....mmmm...), our dinner RSVP wasn't until 9pm. So, once we had arrived there and my brother and I had promptly ordered our first beer of the night (a beautiful Muldoon's Honey Blonde), we awaited the arrival of the other families. Once they were there, it was decided that we would stay at Muldoon's until midnight - we usually return to the other family's house to celebrate the new year. But with a beer in us and another round coming, we weren't in any rush to leave.
I figure, if I had gone to my best friend's girlfriend's house, we would have probably played
Cranium, which is a fun game, for a few hours and then just had some drinks. If I had hung out with my other best friends, we might have had some drinks around the poker table, playing texas hold'em, which is fun, but not a good New Year's Eve. So, when all was said and done, my usual night out with my family and another family (we have 2 boys - myself & my brother - they have 4 girls), seemed like the best pick. Of course, we had a few rounds after the first Honey Blonde (I believe I had 5 in total - but it might have been 6 pints), and then, at midnight a small flute of champagne and a 7 & 7 to finish the night off. But while the "kids" were getting drunk on one side of the table, the parents were doing the same on their side.
So as dinner arrived, after the parents had already had a few drinks before arriving at the restaurant, they had already had a couple glasses of wine (or in my mom's case, rum & diet coke), so the fun was just starting. During the duration of the night, the parents a) initiated a sugar packet fight, b) pretended to pass a doobie to us, c) hit on the waitress for the three guys at the table (me, my brother & one of the 4 girls' boyfriend), d) almost got into a fight with the musician after he wouldn't (didn't know how to) play Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (which my mom just learned stood for LSD), e) made way too much noise with those annoying noise-makers you blow through, as the other table next to us decided to have a noise war, and f) my mom was hit on by a 36-year-old as my father stood looking on (both of them are in their 50's).
To say the least, it was a very eventful night, but it was one of the most fun New Years Eves I've ever had. I feel sorry for our waitress, Sabrina for having to put up with us for 4+ hours and having my mom and my friend's mom try and get her to come over to our house for the USC/Michigan game, and I felt really sorry for the rest of the people at the fine Muldoon's for having to put up with the constant sound of noise makers coming from our table.
But it was fun, everyone had a good time (except those who couldn't drink), and when I look back on it, we'll have tons of memories, not only to cherish, but to make fun of my parents for years to come.
URL:
New Year's Day -- History, Traditions, and Customs
