[Sara Arell]

I thought it would be fun to see how everyone is celebrating New Year's!

Unless the weather brings the snow and sleet predicted, I'm going to be at home babysitting for a little one month old baby boy so his Mom and Dad can enjoy a night out. In 2010 Chelsey and Jason got married - we've been friends with them for a long time now and on November 21, 2012, Chelsea gave birth to Crawford, their first baby. I'm so excited that I get to have a baby in my house again for a whole night and super excited that Chelsea and Jason get a break to enjoy themselves.

Here's my layout from awhile back about Chelsey and Jason.........Chelsea and Jason

Oh, and New Year's Day we always have a ham, collard greens and black-eyed peas for dinner! YUM!

What are your plans? Party in? Party out? Family celebration? Or are you a stay at home and ring in the New Year like me?

[PolkaDot]

If we do anything on New Years Eve, it is going out to see a new movie. Been welcoming New Years that way since our dating days. The theater is always crowded, too!

[Becster]

We've always had a nice dinner at home, or at a friend's home, but this year we're breaking away from that. The church we've been attending since ours closed in 2006 has a Watch Night Service at 11pm. There has always been someone else there to do the music, but over the past few years it has gotten more difficult to find someone. This year we said that we would be there to provide the music and leadership so we'll be in church when the clock strikes midnight!

[Nutmeg]

We're going to stay in and have fun at home. We'll most likely order Chinese and then play board games and watch movies.

[JenniferZ]

Love to hear about the food! Here, where the German/Pennsylvania Dutch influence is strong, we always have pork, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes as our New Year's Day meal. From what I understand, pork is served because, when searching for food, pigs root forward with their snouts. Whereas, chickens and turkeys scratch backward. So, for good luck moving forward in the new year, pork is the choice! Sauerkraut is served as it's just a great complement to pork and because it's a winter food. People relied on preserved foods and sauerkraut was available in mid-winter. Also, I've heard the German saying, "Eat sour for a sweet year!"

We will spend New Year's Eve at our friends' house down the street, enjoying a tapas menu. (Just a collection of appetizers, with wine, of course!) If we can stay awake, we will go across the street to our other neighbors' and ring in the new year. We will just spend New Year's Day together here at the house. If weather permits, we always go on a New Year's hike.

[mimes1]

We never do anything out on New Years Eve or day. On New Years Eve we'll make a big bowl of popcorn and watch movies, then watch the ball drop. We usually don't make it! In the morning, nothing special. Just a day to hang out with family.

[tiza126]

Growing up, my family would get together with my mom's cousin's family, because they had boys close in age to me and my brother. The 4 adults would play grownup games in one room, us 5 kids would play kids games in the basement, and we would have lots of snacks and drinks. At midnight, we put on party hats and went outside with noisemakers. Once we got to high school, us "kids" would rather hang out with our own friends rather than our second cousins, so that tradition died.

I don't know what we'll do this year. My brother heads back to California on the 30th, so I don't think it will be fun to spend New Years Eve with just my parents... because they probably won't stay awake past 10pm (but don't tell them I said that). So I might just rent some movies, buy some snacks, open a bottle of wine, and hang out in my apartment in my PJs with Noelle and my computer. I'll watch the ball drop, then go to bed.

Although mom mentioned that either New Years Eve or New Years Day, we'll go and see the movie version of Les Miserables!!!

[SandiC.]

Nothing. There is nothing magical about starting a new calendar year. I'm all about Christmas but am pretty bah humbug about New years. LOL. Since my birthday is so close to New Years, I take the beginning of the new year of my life as a starting point. Its a time of reflection, a time I re-evaluate and set new goals.

[tiza126]

JenniferZ, on 29 December 2012 - 11:15 AM, said:

Love to hear about the food! />/> Here, where the German/Pennsylvania Dutch influence is strong, we always have pork, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes as our New Year's Day meal. From what I understand, pork is served because, when searching for food, pigs root forward with their snouts. Whereas, chickens and turkeys scratch backward. So, for good luck moving forward in the new year, pork is the choice! Sauerkraut is served as it's just a great complement to pork and because it's a winter food. People relied on preserved foods and sauerkraut was available in mid-winter. Also, I've heard the German saying, "Eat sour for a sweet year!"

We will spend New Year's Eve at our friends' house down the street, enjoying a tapas menu. (Just a collection of appetizers, with wine, of course!) If we can stay awake, we will go across the street to our other neighbors' and ring in the new year. We will just spend New Year's Day together here at the house. If weather permits, we always go on a New Year's hike.

I have a strong German heritage, but haven't heard of that traditional New Years meal. Although I love sauerkraut! I could eat it year-round. Maybe that's why I'm so sweet />

[Sherry Lynn]

We played music for 16 years AND we had a couple of "favorite" places to play New Year's Eve dances:

One was called Cadillac Ranch in Bucksport, now even though it was an hour away they had the most amazing midnight buffet for everyone that was at the dance and they always invited us to take a break and eat, we would then start in playing and end at 2am so we would arrive home around 3:30am.

Our absolutely favorite place was in my hometown about 20 minutes away --- it was called the Red Garter and even though the dance didn't start until 9 we would arrive around 7:30 and the place would be starting to fill up! They would flood the floor for our first song AND still want more when we tried to stop playing at 2am.

The best part of all of the dances that we played over those 16 years was that we got to do it as a family --- how many 16 year olds would want to spend every Saturday night with their parents? Also, my parents never missed a single dance in all of those years - they came early and would help us pack up our equipment at the end of the night AND danced to almost every song in between!

So Sara I guess the answer to your question is we sit home and relax --- we truly enjoyed all those years of watching other people celebrate but now we probably won't even see the new year in LOL!

[JenniferZ]

tiza126, on 29 December 2012 - 12:59 PM, said:

JenniferZ, on 29 December 2012 - 11:15 AM, said:

Love to hear about the food! />/>/> Here, where the German/Pennsylvania Dutch influence is strong, we always have pork, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes as our New Year's Day meal. From what I understand, pork is served because, when searching for food, pigs root forward with their snouts. Whereas, chickens and turkeys scratch backward. So, for good luck moving forward in the new year, pork is the choice! Sauerkraut is served as it's just a great complement to pork and because it's a winter food. People relied on preserved foods and sauerkraut was available in mid-winter. Also, I've heard the German saying, "Eat sour for a sweet year!"

We will spend New Year's Eve at our friends' house down the street, enjoying a tapas menu. (Just a collection of appetizers, with wine, of course!) If we can stay awake, we will go across the street to our other neighbors' and ring in the new year. We will just spend New Year's Day together here at the house. If weather permits, we always go on a New Year's hike.

I have a strong German heritage, but haven't heard of that traditional New Years meal. Although I love sauerkraut! I could eat it year-round. Maybe that's why I'm so sweet />/>

Obviously!!!

[PBarnes]

DH and I normally spend a quiet evening at home and then we have a family gathering at my FIL's house on New Year's Day, but since he's in the hospital right now, our plans are a bit up in the air at the moment.

[Cheri T]

The last couple years we've allowed the kids to stay up until midnight if they want/can. Last year I think the movie we all watched ended around 11, 11:30, and 2 of them were out like a light shortly thereafter. Our 9 year old has no trouble staying up until midnight, lol. Then we all sleep in and have a lazy day on New Years.

Boring, yup!