Welcoming The New Year

This year, when December 31 rolled around, I found myself just  ME AND THE 3.....3 kiddos that is.  My hubby is a musical performer (he plays saxophone, guitar and vocals in a solo act).  He had 3 jobs booked on New Year's Eve, starting at 2:00 in the afternoon and working his way to midnight.  This left me with the kids to celebrate the new year together, without him.

As sad as this sounds, I've become used to giving up, or postponing, holidays and special events due to his career choice.  It doesn't bother me in the least.  The kids usually roll with it too.  So, there we were on New Year's Eve 2012.

How did we spend it? 

• We tried to build our 2nd gingerbread house of the year.  This one was a post-Christmas freebie, and not one I will buy even though it is a top name brand one.  I won't mention the name, but she is a popular maker of cookies.  When the icing didn't stick well, we gave up and decorated the pieces of the house as if they were individual cookies.  Then, we discovered that they were too hard to actually bite into.  So, we set it all aside and moved on to more fun.
• We mixed up some sugar cookies.  When they came out of the oven, we decorated them as our 2012 cookie designs (see above picture).
• We played a Cranium game called Conga.  By the way, if you want a fun family game (this is the one).  We had a blast wading our way through this game for our very first time.
• We put some pizza in the oven and gobbled it down when it was ready.
• We pulled our party poppers at midnight and hopped and hollered while watching the neighborhood sky light up with fireworks like the 4th of July.
• Daddy called at midnight....We missed his call since we were outside celebrating for just a moment....So, I called him back.  He had just finished his last gig.
• I talked with the kids about what they enjoyed most about 2011 and what they hoped 2012 would bring....  We then, thanked God and prayed for the new year.

If my new year celebration sounds boring or uneventful, that's because I wanted it to be a quiet evening home enjoying my little family.  The days of big party crowds are in my past.  Though, if someone would have told me (when in my 20's) how I would be celebrating New Year's Eve 2012, I'm not sure I would have believed them.  But, you know what?  I much prefer my little non-eventful New Year's Eve.

And, my goals for 2012?  I don't usually make New Year's resolutions, because a promise to me is a serious matter that I never want to break.  However, I do make plans and set goals.  I'll share with you some of my 2012 goals, if you like:

• A deeper spiritual relationship with Jesus
• Make a dent in our debt
• Attempt to blog more (This is going to be a difficult challenge, but I hope to attempt to post something almost daily)
• More time with my kids and hubby
• Lose my writer's belly and hips (get healthy)
• Plan some awesome summer vacations (my parents have paid for a beach house in Isle of Palms this year for our family, and we hope to go on tour again - John booking gigs in one of our favorite states - Wisconsin )
• Publish my e-books
• Enjoy life more (Less serious, more laughter)