2014 was a good year. It had all the usual ups and downs, normal family life, highlighted by some great times, like our trip to Napa and our pool construction. No major changes. I wear the same size clothing, Ellie still has all her baby teeth, Paul continues to work steadily, and the younger two are normal toddlers/preschoolers. Thank God for our uncomplicated life!
In keeping with our newly started tradition, we celebrated the New Year in many time zones. It was a bit more elaborate than last year thanks to extra time for research and planning, but for the future, we would simplify again so we aren't rushing to do everything in time. Of course it was still very fun, and we even included the kids for a few time zones.
7pm: Portugal
After dinner, we gave the kids hats and noisemakers, toasted with sparkling apple cider and stuffed 12 raisins in our mouths at the end of the countdown. We all put on blue socks and made sure to step with our right feet first when we got out of our chairs to go outside and throw poppers and confetti crackers in the driveway. We learned that in Portuguese, "Feliz ano novo" means "Happy new year" (and is super close to Spanish!).
8pm: South Sandwich Isles
SSI are uninhabited (by humans... But there are penguins!) and under UK control, so we looked up some UK traditions (and didn't find a lot that was terribly unique), so I took the opportunity to ask the kids a few questions in a "year end interview," which I figure will be fun to read in a few years and see how their answers have changed. Then we made penguin masks and toasted sandwiches for our Happy New Year toast! Katie played "Auld Lang Syne" AKA "Happy New Year Music" on her new toy violin, and then it was time to kiss the girls goodnight.
9pm: Nuuk, Greenland
We toasted with flaming coffee (which tasted gross) and thankfully didn't burn down the house! Then with a little camera magic, Paul made our own version of the Northern Lights (using floating light balls in the pool and a camera app on his phone). And we wore green. Because it's Greenland.
10pm: Bermunada (Bermuda and Canada)
We found several fun things to do... Not to mention that we traveled a lot in this time zone! In Bermuda, instead of a ball drop at midnight, there in an Onion Drop. So we had some fun with a big onion, dropping it from the railing of second floor of our house. We even made a slow motion video (it's not on YouTube, so I can't link it here; sorry! Check it out on Facebook if you're my friend!). Then we ran outside in our swimsuits for a Polar Bear swim... Sort of. It was so cold that we just jumped in the shallow beach entry and got our feet wet. I have no idea how people can jump in freezing cold water in places even colder than here! We did toss Mr. Onion into the pool. He had an eventful night. After all those shenanigans, we warmed up by the fire and toasted the new year with a cup of black eyed pea soup.
11pm: New York City
We dressed up for this one, rigged up a beach ball drop in the living room (another Facebook video), danced, drank champagne, and had a special dessert.
The cupcake inside the big white chocolate ball was decorated with a 2015, so theoretically, 2014 would melt away to reveal 2015 inside. Cool idea. Failed execution. Tasty result.
12am: Houston
In pajamas, we set up a balloon drop over our bed, toasted with water, and kissed goodnight. Happy New Year, World!
We had fun, ate too much, drank not-enough, and welcomed 2015 with open arms.
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