1.01.2011

mmxi

I find myself a little forlorn when Christmas comes to an end. Christmas day finally comes, the celebration is wonderful... and then, like a band-aid, it is ripped away. The radio stations stop playing Christmas music, the gifts have been revealed to one another, and suddenly, my Christmas tree just feels like this dead shrub taking up way too much space in my living room. Depressing, right? I just have a hard time letting go- I love Christmas so much.

Alas! There is one very good remedy for the sad closing of the Christmas season. One week later we get to ring in the new year! Everything begins anew- a fresh year, a fresh start... I love it. It almost entirely melts away the difficult task of packing up Christmas until next year. What makes it even better is the tradition of staying up late to welcome the new year. This tradition, for a night owl like me, is a dream! My friends (and even husband, who feels 9:00pm is an ideal bedtime) stay up late to celebrate! This year, as always- (because people scatter far and wide)- we missed celebrating with some wonderful family and friends-- but we had a wonderful New Year's Eve party with some of the most wonderful people.

It was a fancy attire kind of night...

A friendly game of cards (I did not partake... if it's not "go fish", it's beyond me).

If you look closely... you can see someone caught me taking this picture.

A New Year's smooch...

We enjoyed some delicious food... and some maybe not so delicious food... (I'm sorry G, but it's just too good not to share.)

and friends.

This is "2011" in sparklers! Kind of...

Happy New Year!

A really fantastic night, I'd say! So, goodbye Christmas. I shall miss you. But, I am excited for all that 2011 will bring- both challenging and exciting... from now until the next Christmas season!

2 comments:

Carol said...

Happy mmxi to you. Looks like a fun party with lots of good friends. And Ben stayed up late? Yea for him!

Gina said...

these are grrrrreat!!! I wonder if there is a countdown to Christmas thingy we can put on our blogs.