2017 is on its way out and 2018 is coming in! What will you do to celebrate? What traditions are in your family?
As a kid, we celebrated by ordering a big Chinese dinner from “Eastern Winds” restaurant and eating on my parent’s fine china. Afterward, we’d play “Spin the Bottle” and answer fun questions about the past year. And lastly, we’d crank up the music and dance to ABBA-especially the song, “Happy New Year!” It was a big celebration and one I looked forward to every year!
In our family today, we party by making homemade tamales. It’s something we learned how to do from our neighbors a few years ago. We eat our delicious tamales by candlelight, play games, dance and watch movies. And, of course, eating ice-cream at midnight is something we have to do!
On New Year’s Day, our family treks over to the valley in North Fork for sledding, snow shoeing and tubing. We bundle up and go all day— stopping only to eat hot chili or doughnuts. It’s the best way to start out the New Year!
So, what are you doing to ring in the New Year and say goodbye to the old?
Here are some fun traditions from local friends in the community:
Julieanne Hartmann says, “We usually go bowling on New Year’s Day.”
Carol Johnson, “Out to a movie.”
Heather Wilcock says they have, “Gifts of games and puzzles to open on New Year’s Eve then play games for the night’s activities.”
Kim Steele, a registered nurse isn’t exactly doing something fun but very important. She says, “Working…a lot of emergency surgeries. Mostly vehicle accidents. You would think people would learn by now not to drink and drive, but it happens every year.”
Angie Francom writes, “On New Year’s Eve we have fondue and sparkling cider (often with party hats and blowers!), board games, banging pots and pans on the porch (sometime between 8-10 p.m. because we rarely make it to midnight). New Year’s Day-usually we do calendars and some type of fill-in-the-blank of goals/hopes/stats/current favs to go in everyone’s ‘file’ …”
Jamie Langeveld says, “When our kids were little and we could get away with it, Jason and I would change all the clocks so the kids thought it was 12:00 when it was really 10:00—they never knew it ‘til years later!”
Kris Jorgensen tells us she works every New Year’s Eve at the Weber County Fairgrounds.
“We do fondue night and games for New Year’s Eve and usually go bowling on New Year’s Day,” Melissa LaFleur writes.
Jackie Muno says, “Our kids have gotten to the age they like to take off with friends on New Year’s Eve, so we reserve New Year’s Day for family. We go to breakfast and a movie. New Year’s Eve, Brent and I have us time. It’s awesome.”
Some families have birthdays on New Year’s so they’re celebrating themselves! Alita Miller is one of the lucky ones! Also, Suzanne Earnst has a son whose birthday is New Year’s Eve. She says, “We celebrate with a birthday and try to stay awake but never quite making it! Praying in the New Year is something we love to do also.”
“Sleeping in as long as possible!” says Vic Saunders.
Another fondue night, Andrea Bird says, “We celebrate with a chocolate fondue party and sparking cider while we play games and make New Year’s goals.”
Keli Anderson says, “We watch movies and play games. Then when it turns midnight we do mock-a-ritas. The kids love making fancy drinks!”
A unique idea came from Kassi Bauer who says, “We celebrate ‘Father Time’ which is believed that if you leave your shoes by the door on New Year’s Eve ‘Father Time’ comes and fills them with small “gifts” of warmth and good wishes as he brings in the New Year. When the kids wake up they find their shoes filled.”
Happy New Year from all of us at the Sentinel News!
