The New Years Eve Party

Our annual New Years Eve party is one of my favorite nights of the year. We get to surround ourselves with some of our favorite people with no other goal than to have fun together and ring in the New Year.

The event started in a bit of desperation. Our kids were young and neither Rhonda nor I could find (translation: afford) sitters so we figured if we hosted, we could have our kids there with us. Now our kids are grown and off to their own parties, but the tradition lives on.

We always have tons of food and drink and games. The annual standby is a game called "Four on a Couch" which is my favorite because everyone gets to participate--even if you don't know a soul. The game is this...(rules are convoluted, so bear with)...the game begins with two men and two women sitting alternately on the couch. The couch is surrounded by chairs with men and women sitting alternately and an empty chair in the mix.

Each person's name is written on a piece of paper and handed out. Whatever name you are handed is your name for the game, but that's your secret. The person to the right of the empty chair calls a name....any name...and whoever is holding that name has to move to the empty spot leaving their place vacant. Then the person to the right calls another name and play continues.

The point of the game is for the women to get all the spots on the couch filled with women and the men are trying to get four men on the couch. It's a bit like the plastic toys with the numbers where you slide them about to get them in order. The thing is that you can call a guy's name and that name may belong to a girl so you've accidentally put a woman on the couch. This goes on for a bit until you start to figure out who is who.

The running commentary, difficulty remembering names, imitations of people who have someones name--I particularly liked Michelle mimicking John's "hair flip"--are what make the game fun. Last night, it was a total rout as the women won three in a row. (Even though John threw the last game because it was running long.)

The other big thing was the Wii Bowling Tournament. Chase was gracious enough to leave it here for our party. (He and Nichole even stayed long enough to play Four on a Couch with us.) Nancy-the-Insightful totally trounced us all with the high score (and this was her first time to play).

Toward the end of the night, Denise asked me what my theme of the year was, and I'm embarrassed to say I had nothing. Each year I craft a theme for the year. (Usually silly.) One year it was "All about Me" year. (The next year was "All about my BIL Troy.") Another year it was "Sparkle on." One year was "Simplify." I asked for suggestions last night. Jill came up with "Team Fabulous." And someone else decided it should be "It's a Wii World" which someone quickly modified to "Wiiiiiiiiiiiiii." Maybe I'm just tired from staying up too late, or maybe it is because of the book I'm reading on awareness, but I think this year's theme may be, "Just Be." Totally uninspiring, I know. (Wouldn't it be more fun if I had a theme that involved painting the world bright pink?) What if 2008 becomes about not moving so fast...about enjoying the journey and giving myself permission sometimes just to be?