no party

 
We came home from Boston earlier than we would have liked in order to prepare for the now annual New Year's Eve party. My goal this year was to have enough done in advance so that instead of frantically working up to the moment of the first knock on the door, I might actually gussy up a bit. And two days out I was in good shape. The house was mostly decorated. Food was being prepared. Dishes and serving platters were ready.

 
I had even used a magic trick to polish silver soup spoons. And then . . .

 
Theo came down with the same bug that plagued Gus over Christmas. So, because he was miserable, and drippy, and hacking, and, most likely, highly contagious, we canceled the party. And then we were all sad.

 
So on New Year's Eve we tried to make things a little festive. We all ate twelve grapes for a prosperous new year. And there was onion dip, cause nothing says 'festive' like onion dip! Except it turns out the boys do not share my love of onion dip. But the chips were a hit.

 
We rented the Curious George Movie, which was our second attempt at showing the boys their first movie, but like with Cars, fifteen minutes in it got too scary (this time a mean doorman appeared) and Gus made us turn it off. We were all disappointed.

 
So we moved on to the our version of the Times Square Ball Drop. It was filled with lizards and snow confetti, so that cheered us up.

 

 
10 . . .9 . . .8 . . .7 . . .6 . . .

 
5 . . .4 . . .3 . . .2 . . .1!!!

 
Happy New Year!!!!

 
Tackle and repeat a dozen times.