Funny how things change over the years. For 20 consecutive years, we threw a honkin' New Years party. Lots of live music. Good stuff! So good in fact, that the band got booked for...New Year's Eve. End of the party era. This year, my 18-year-old announced about a week ago that he was going on a snowboarding trip with friends from college and will return on 1/2/10. The band was booked to play on NYE months ago, so that's the second member of the family accounted for. Then there's me. I will be staying home, alone. Awesome! I can play Bejeweled Blitz or answer some Mahalo questions or watch the tube, which is getting less and less appealing. Mahalo and Bejeweled are quite addictive, I've found. What I will NOT be doing is stepping even one teeny toe into the outside world. At midnight, I hope to be in the middle of a controversial forum with some of the best brains on the Net who, unfortunately, may be out having a festive time, so I must wait and see. Trust me. This is my idea of a GOOD time. Cheers!

Due to lack of funds (and a roommate, who is home in Germany right now), I will be spending the evening in front of the TV, watching the ball drop and browsin' the net. :)

We have a long standing New Year's eve tradition. We never venture out for one thing it's to cold and then there are all the drunk drivers out there. So we plan a bunch of yummy junk food snacks. Then we play what ever video game we bought that year for Christmas. Last year it was PS2 and this year it is the Wii. We have a huge marathon tournament that usually results in my son falling asleep long before midnight. :)

I invited a few close friends over for a big pot of my famous chili, some word games and champagne. Other years, either we procrastinate party planning or we're just feeling like loners and we'll hunker down with cheese fondue and a movie, staying awake just long enough to watch the ball drop at Times Square.

My husband and I will be staying home and drinking homemade wine together. We will stay up as long as we can and watch the ball drop on television. :)