NYE: Hole Up, Giggle, and Cuddle with Your Kids

A blogger that I follow posted a link to an article about the babysitter wars. Click to read it or trust my synopsis: babysitters expect to get paid more on New Year's Eve - sometimes twice their usual rate - and people actually poach sitters from friends or pick up random sitters at the mall. The piece goes on to offer helpful hints for procuring sitters for new years, including sharing a sitter, hosting the party at your house, or just resigning yourself to paying through the nose. Really?!?

Okay, I'm on my soapbox here. But I have a suggestion.

If you are a parent, seriously consider 

spending New Year's Eve with who should be 

the most important people to you. 

Your spouse. And your kids. 

New Year's Eve is a celebration of the year that's passed - all the challenges and triumphs; it's a time to reflect. Midnight is the beginning of a new year, a fresh start. Why would you spend that away from your family? I like drinking wine and noshing on appetizers with my friends as much as anyone else, but that can happen on any of the other 364 nights of the year. That can happen on my birthday, my husband's birthday, our friends' birthdays. Heck, I don't even need a reason to meet a friend for a drink or eats. But, for me, ringing in the new year is something intimate. It's a time to hole up, giggle, cuddle, and remember why you start and end each day with these people. They're yours.

Click here for what we did last year. Family fun-shenanigans with some traditions from around the world.

This year, we'll be listening to some taiko drums downtown in the afternoon, dining at a favorite restaurant, heading home for some internationally-inspired New Year's desserts, playing board games, toasting with bubbles, and smooching as the clock strikes twelve.

This was our toast from last year. We all made it to midnight. We'll be there again in a few days. Same couch. Same time.

Ringing in the New Year, Mann-Style

Lots of people have new year's eve traditions. Ours = vicariously globe-trotting with international new year's eve traditions, board games, giggles, family cuddles, bubbly, and kisses at midnight. It's probably not the most exciting thing we could be doing, we definitely missed out on some shenanigans with our crazy friends, but it's exactly what I want: making memories with my kids and starting off the year with the most important people in my life.

Italy. We donned red undies for good luck. Felice Anno Nuevo.

The Philippines. We pulled on polka-dotted socks to honor our Filipino roots. Manigong Bagong Taon!

Denmark. We leapt from the couch, especially for Zia Rikke and Ulla. Godt NytÅr!

Japan. We rang a bell 108 times, each, to chase away 432 troubles. By that point, Riley was half asleep and we had to count for him. But he participated.

We feasted. We had pillow fights. And we all made it to midnight. Enjoy 2012. We certainly will.

We have a few more international traditions to complete this morning. Better get on it.