New Year's Eve
The first New Year's Eve I was married, I tried to recreate my honeymoon in Martha's Vineyard by cooking clam chowder and boiling lobsters for my new husband. The chowder tasted like a bad attempt at onion soup and was dumped into the kitchen sink drain. The lobsters were so overcooked they bounced out of their shells and were impossible to spear, even with the new, sharp knives from our bridal registry. We laughed about it but went to bed hungry.
Some New Year's Eves we did not spend together. I read a book and went to bed early while he worked at his day job, a newspaper, or had a gig playing piano with bands in Baltimore or Detroit.
One year we sat quietly in our house sipping champagne and toasting our four-day-old baby who was not home yet. A case of aspirational pneumonia kept her at Georgetown's neonatal intensive care unit for a week. We wanted to stay by her bassinet until the clock struck midnight, but the nurses saw how weary and scared we were and sent us home.
That baby is almost four now and her brother is one. If I can corral those two into bed by 9 p.m. I declare it my own personal holiday.
I don't know what we'll do this Dec. 31. My dream is to go to a movie and have someone else handle the bedtime routine. I'd like to eat clam chowder and lobsters flown in from the Vineyard. I'd like to sip champagne and toast everyone's good health.
And then I'd like to sleep until noon the next day. (I said it was a dream.)
What will you do to ring in the New Year? Check out our guide for ideas.
By Liz Seymour |
December 19, 2006; 1:13 PM ET
| Category:
Parties
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Posted by: Portia | December 21, 2006 08:51 AM
My husband is from West Africa and New Year's is the biggest holiday of the year in his country. This year - after a succession of disappointing New Year's celebrations - we're going to host some friends at home for dancing and home-cooked African food.
Posted by: kathycoulnj | December 22, 2006 11:48 AM
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Hi Liz -
I don't know if you are reading the comments. I lived in Boston for several years and Legal Seafoods will send you (by fedex) their New England clam chowder and a pair of live lobsters, with INSTRUCTIONS.
No - I never worked for them, but I ate quarts of the chowder and quite a few of their lobsters!
Sorry - I don't have a supplier for the 'sleep until noon' order...