In with the New

For New Year's Eve we were invited over to some friends' from church along with several others. We ate some Chinese food, played some games, ate more snacks and had a good time with each other. We left a little before 11pm--it was already more than 3 hours past the boys' bedtimes. Anders fought against leaving--which we knew he would--so we tried to distract him by looking at lights on houses on our way home. Nils was out when we got home, but Anders still wasn't ready to settle down. So we cuddled on the couch as he ate a granola bar (or granoola bar as he calls them) and had some milk. In the States you can turn on just about any station and watch the New Year being rung in at parties across the country. We couldn't find anything like that here. Our best bets were a local news show and a national political farce comedy show (where we spent most of our time--they counted down the last couple minutes). Anders was up to ring in the new year (though it meant as much to him as political boundaries do). The boys were up at 8am--which wasn't too bad, though they both need a lot more sleep. And we had a fairly quiet day at home together. None of the stations we get with antenna were broadcasting parades, bowl games or any of the traditional fare--instead a hockey game was on (though it was a couple of American teams). In one way, it was kind of anti-climactic not spending New Year's Day with family or friends, eating more food and watching football. In another way, it was kind of nice to have a relaxed, quiet day at home. There are probably New Year's Day traditions here (Polar Bear swims--apparently some are clothing optional--are fairly common, I guess, but I think we'll skip that tradition) to partake in (or new ones to be made), but I think we'll wait a year to look into it.