Okay, so maybe it's because I'm older, or maybe it's because I don't party anymore, but to me, New Years isn't such a big deal.
I remember the first year I got sober in 1990, it was a hard year. Every holiday reminded me of drinking.... okay, every day reminded me of drinking, but holidays especially. Every year New Year and Halloween, Christmas and Fourth of July got easier without alcohol.
After I had my first child, I tried to celebrate New Years in a sober fashion. I went out with some friends after getting a sitter, and I sipped my sparking cider. By 9:00 pm I was face down in the quacamole- dead asleep.
Okay, so toddlers and late hours don't go together. I tried again with my husband when the kids were older. A sitter again, and out we were. Two adults, no kids, candlelight and good food.
we held out till 11:00 pm, then we both decided we missed the kids too much and went home. Personally I think it was just an excuse, neither one of us could hold out any longer without sleep.
When my children grew old enough to understand the concept of New Years Eve and midnight, we decided we were going to party all night long! Woo-hoo and pass the grape juice. This time I planned carefully, we were going to play board games and around 10 pm would watch videos until we could ring in the new year with Dick Clark- a new family tradition!
Everything went according to plan, for a while, the only problem is the last thing I remember was Cinderella washing the floor.... the next thing I knew I was pulling Doritos out of my hair the next morning and trying to figure out how chocolate chip cookies got into the VCR. It was then that I realized mothers don't need alcohol, they just need more than one child to keep life interesting.
So, I decided after that last adventure I didn't need a New Year celebration to bring on the new year, it happened just fine without me. So my hubby and I sleep like every other normal night, and my kids (who are old enough now to know better than to put cookies in the DVD player) are free to stay up without us. Besides, it is a dangerous night to travel, right? Heck, when we lived in Downey it was a dangerous night to step outside your door, you never knew when a stray bullet fired into the sky in 'celebration' was going to land in your head as it fell to the ground. Duh! What part of Newton's Law are you having difficulty with?? I digress...
Just when I have a good night's sleep all planned out, one of my friends reminds me about her New Years party. Okay, so I figure I can take the kids and the hubby, and we can skip out about 10 pm, right? No harm, no foul.... no way, her party starts at 10 pm..... and goes till 2 am.
Is she serious? What was she thinking?? Forget about me for a minute, teenagers out until 2 am? Does she realize how cranky they are already in the morning without adding 2 am into the equation? HA!!
Okay, lets sum up: It's 3 in the afternoon and I'm already tired. At 9 pm I will begin to yawn uncontrollably, and by midnight I can be found under a table somewhere out of the way sound asleep... not my idea of a good time. She told me to take a nap this afternoon. A nap, in the middle of the day? I am afraid I don't speak Klingon, that must be what you're speaking I tell her, because I don't understand you.....
Tomorrow my in-laws are coming. And my house is a disaster- except for the kitchen. Tomorrow we are supposed to be cleaning the house as a family. I can see it now......
I am up at 5 am to get a jump start on cleaning the house, and my body is punishing me for refusing to listen to it last night when it told me to go to bed at a decent hour. Being a Zombie however is not conducive to cleaning anything and I consequently make a half of an attempt to vaccum, clean the bathrooms and mop, but pass out on the couch around 9 am. The rest of the family drags themselves out of bed around noon, dirties up the kitchen I cleaned yesterday making breakfast, and my in-laws walk in the house at 1 pm to find four of the living dead inhabiting their son's messy house. Wow, now that is impressive let me tell you.
The weirdest thing of all is that I have suffered from insomnia throughout my life. So what, some nights I can't keep my eyelids open without toothpicks after 7 pm, and others I can't keep them closed without super glue..... what is that all about???
So, what to do? I mean, this friend of mine keeps the oddest hours, to her I am weird because we eat dinner at 6 pm and go to bed at 9. She eats dinner with her family around 9 pm and they stay up all night and sleep during the day. I remember the first time we went over for dinner, it was 10 pm before we sat down to eat. I almost passed out in the dessert. We certainly don't speak the same language... but she makes a mean taco, and I really love her. So, I guess we will go the the party, and the devil take the dirty house (and I mean that, if he wants it, he can have it) I plan on having a grand time.
Here is Gil Galad the alpaca- wishing you a Happy New Year in his own alpaca-ish way.
Have a safe and happy New Year, and take good care of yourselves!
Till next time,
Slainte~
Rachelle
