Ringing in the New Year

New Year festivities are underway at my house. My family has a few traditions that we’ll be observing, although with some slight variations because of the kids’ work schedules.

First, and most delicious of all, the traditional New Year’s dinner of pork and sauerkraut with mashed potatoes. Yum! It’s cooking right now and we’ll have it for dinner tonight instead of on New Year’s Day. But I’m sure there will be plenty of leftovers, so we can have it again tomorrow.

Another tradition we started a few years ago is to spend the hours leading up to midnight watching either a very long movie or a movie series. Last year it was Bleak House (BBC version), the year before it was North and South (A&E), and the year before that it was all three Lord of the Rings movies – the extended versions. We started at 10:00 in the morning that year! This year, we’re watching all five of the Harry Potter movies. We should be finishing up around, or a little after, midnight tonight. Watching a movie in the evening usually makes me extremely sleepy, so I don’t know if I’ll make it until the end. But I’m going to give it my best. Plenty of coffee and chocolate should keep me going!

Happy New Year, everyone!