A Safe Fun New Year's Eve Celebration!

I got married a few years before any of my siblings did.  So on New Year's Eve I would always worry when they would go out and drink for the night.  They wouldn't have a designated driver, because that wasn't in vogue at the time. 

So one year, I decided to have my brothers and sister come over my house for New Year's Eve.  I had a small two bedroom house at the time, but I knew it would be plenty of room for sleeping bags and family.

We would all chip in for snacks, chinese food, and party favors.  Everyone would bring a game they liked to play and a drink of their choice.  We would start around 6pm and play games, eat snacks, drink and watch the ball drop.  I had two little boys at the time and they would have an awesome time with all the family around.  And they could go to bed whenever they wanted.

One year, I thought we would have to cancel.  I was seven months pregnant and I started to go into labor.  So I called everyone and told them to come to my house and start without us.  We went to the hospital and they gave me some medicine to stop the contractions because it was too early to deliver.  And we went back to the house and celebrated the New Year and the fact that my baby would have more time to grow!

We would always take a picture before we started, all of us with our party hats.  It was fun to watch how everyone changed and how the group would get bigger.  As my brother's and sister got married, they would bring their spouses.  We continued for about 8 years.  My sister had a baby and we did it up until he was about 2 years old.

It was so much fun having family over and waking up in the morning to a house filled with people.  We would all chip in and make breakfast and sit around the table and talk about the New Year!

One time, one of my brothers had to work late.  So we decided to record the ball dropping.  Back then it was on VHS.  After we saw the ball drop for real, we rewinded the tape and waited to see when he pulled in the driveway.  As soon as we saw him, we yelled for him to hurry up so he wouldn't miss the ball dropping.  He was very confused because he thought he had worked till midnight.  We all ran in and blew our horns and said Happy New Year and hugged and kissed everyone.  He was happy he hadn't missed it.  The next day, sitting around the table we told him the truth.  He was happy that we thought enough to do that for him.

Now they're all busy with their children and their lives, but I still reminisce about all the fun we had together.

So remember when you want to celebrate the New Year, you don't have to go to a club and drink till you drop.  You can make it any kind of celebration you like.  You can have a children's party during the day.  A New Year's Day brunch with friends or family.  Or just the two of you and your children and dance and sing the New Year in.

But please be cautious when you're drinking.  If you do go out and drink, take a cab or limousine.  Or get a designated driver to pick you up or come with you.  Or go to one of the many celebrations they have at hotels and rent a room.  Whatever you do, DO NOT Drink & Drive!  It's a horrible way to start the New Year!

I tell my son's, who are between 25-30 that I will still pick them up if they drink too much and need a ride, no questions asked.

So if anyone has a special way to celebrate the New year, I would love to hear about it.  BE SAFE!

Designated Driver

Usually on Christmas Eve I drink a lot and my husband doesn't drink at all so he drives! The rest of my family drinks too!

So this year I've decided not to drink on Christmas Eve and drive my family members home!

I hope everyone that is drinking either has a designated driver or stays over the persons house!

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy safe holidays!

My Simple Vegan Shepherd's Pie w/Carnivore Substitutes

Ingredients:  I don't measure things.  Use as much as you see fit for whose eating it.

           VEGAN                                                  CARNIVORE substitute

Vegan "meat" crumbles                                hamburger

vegetable oil                      

onion

veggie broth                                                    beef broth

corn

potatoes

almond/soy milk                                              milk

vegan "butter"                                                  butter

pinch of salt

Directions:

Peel, cut and boil potatoes until they fall off the fork.  Add oil to fry pan and brown onions.  Add "meat" crumbles till they soften (most are frozen).  Add corn.

Add veggie broth to fry pan & let simmer for a few minutes.

Drain water from potatoes and put in a bowl.  Mash together with almond/soy milk and vegan butter.  Stir in a pinch of salt.

Add "meat" mixture to a baking dish.  Smooth mashed potatoes on top.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes.

If you like you can add vegan "cheese" to the top or mix into the potatoes.

You can also put any veggies you like in this dish.  It is quite versatile. 

December 23, 2012 Festivus Celebration!

I always see my three boys on Christmas Eve at the family gathering.  It's usually 30-40 people with lots of fun chaos and children.  So this year I decided to see them a day earlier to celebrate in a quieter atmosphere.

I happen to be watching Seinfeld the other day, which I haven't watched in a long time so it must be an omen.  And it was the episode where George Castanzas father comes up with a new holiday that he called Festivus.  So I wanted to see if there was a real celebration.  It was actually on Wikipedia, isn't everything?  And it is celebrated on December 23rd.  So I thought, since I don't have a Christmas tree this year, and my kids happen to be coming over on the 23rd, maybe I too could get a metal pole and celebrate Festivus.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus.

I haven't told my children yet.  I'm wondering if they will know when they see the metal pole.  Airing grievances will be fun, but then we will say something nice to each person.  And there won't be any wrestling on the floor, I'm thinking arm wrestling so everyone can participate.  They had meatloaf on the Seinfeld episode, but I like making shepherd's pie.

I will try and write again before Christmas and let you know how our Festivus celebration went.  We usually celebrate Yule and light candles on the Yule log, but I like to change things up a bit sometimes.

I hope, no matter what kind of celebration you are having, that you make sure it's about family and friends and not about the things you get.  Make sure you tell people that you love them.  Material gifts are not the only thing worth giving.

Finally, But For How Long?

I went to my nephew's Holiday Concert this morning.  And what to my wonderous eyes should appear, but a police officer at the front door.

It's nice that they did this when lots of people were showing up at the school, but shouldn't this be happening everyday.  Someone to stop the horror before it gets into the school!

I couldn't help but be thankful for all of the children and teachers in that school.  That they were fine, and getting to celebrate like others around the country should be able to.  Not taking their childhood and joy from them at such a young age.

As I looked at the kids singing on stage, I wondered what problems they have in their lives that no one has recognized.  Problems that they, at such a young age may think are the worse thing ever.  Are parents asking their children the right questions?  What are the right questions?

Then I remembered my nephew telling me that him and his twin brother have been being bullied.  The school knows and they still don't do anything about it.  Well, I wanted to take matters into my own hands and asked my sister which ones were the bullies.  I wanted to take their picture and make a
Wanted Posted.  Place it around the school, "Wanted For Bullying"!  Does public humiliation stop the problem or make it worse?  I see some towns making kids hold signs up of what they've done wrong.  Is it different if it is coming from an outside source?

All people are talking about nowadays is gun control!  I think it needs to be other things.  I think we all need to take our hand and hold it out for someone that needs it.  If we see something that doesn't seem right, ask questions.  Sometimes parents are too close to the issue and do not want to see what is right in front of them.  We need to keep our eyes open because it does take a village to raise a child.

Hope everyone is having a hopeful day!

Our Priorities Are Warped!

Watching the news all week and driving through my town got me to thinking...why are there so many police officers on the roads watching construction crews and not one in each school at the front doors?

Longest Word (too long)

Longest word has 189,819 letters! They say it as Titien.  Imagine having to say it in a sentence?  It's a protein found in our body!

Don't we make up the words in our language? Why and how would we name something that long?

What is the point of having that many letters?

It actually says in Fun-with-words.com that a DNA molecule could have a name of over 1,000,000,000 letters if it was written out in full!

My question to that is Why?