Happy New Year

When I was just a wee thing of a girl, New Year's Eve was my parent's night to party. I still remember my mother getting dressed up in some delightful cocktail dress and doing her makeup just so. Dressing up and dancing was her perfect evening. The fun for me came the next day when we got to play with their party hats. Oh, I loved those silly little cardboard hats in shiny colors and glitter. Don't ask me why but they just screamed FUN to me. I had images in my head of beautiful people in beautiful clothing laughing and dancing, and I grew up thinking that's what New Year's Eve was supposed to be.

As a teenager, I had morphed into a wallflower who sat home on New Year's Eve in self-pitying misery, thinking that the whole world except me was out having glamorous fun. By the time I actually developed some social skills and started going to New Year's Eve parties, my illusions were blown. New Year's Eve seemed a desperate holiday to me with forced and phony gaiety, pressure to drink too much and that desperate loneliness that comes only when you're in a crowd.

I no longer hate New Year's Eve. I just do it on a small scale, either in my own home or at a friend's where the gathering will be small and intimate. I do love dressing up for the evening in something both festive and comfortable. My black velvet palazzo pants and tunic which feels like a sweat suit will have another outing this evening even though the husband will probably be in jeans. The sparkling wine is in the fridge, and a few appetizers and nibbly things are on the menu. We're dusting off the Scrabble board and renting DVDs. At midnight, I plan on going outside and toasting the one day old new moon and the New Year.

2005 brought a lot of changes, some wonderful, some unwelcome. I'm sure 2006 will do the same. I'm just glad I'm along for the ride.