We Had An Incredible New Year's Eve And New Year's Day

Lisa and I have never gone out for New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. We stay put with the kids. Hunkered down. We're not party people. We have no desire to attend a largely crowded Firs Night in a big city. We don't frequent bars. It's too risky to be out in a large crowd or on the roads. Normally, we make a bunch of appetizers, I sip a little wine, and we play cards at the kitchen table and end the evening on the sofa with our kids.

This year, our neighbor friends invited us over both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. We said yes. Their house is the next one down from ours. It takes a minute to walk there. Literally. They're not party people either. It wasn't a gathering to ring in the new year with a champagne toast at the stroke of midnight.

Our neighbor friend made a scrumptious feast of appetizers. I made a couple of things including my homemade Hawaiian Cheese Spread with assorted crackers and my brown butter, chocolate chip brickle cookie cups.

Festivities started at 5.

About an hour before we left, we ventured upstairs to visit K and A. I made cookies and Hawaiian Cheese Spread rollups to include in their festivities. We enjoyed a couple glasses of wine and promised to stop over when we got back from our neighbor friends.

We stayed at our neighbor friend's house for a few hours. The food and wine were delicious. We enjoyed great conversation and had some laughs. It was nice to visit and enjoy the New Year's Eve festivities.

When we arrived back, we went upstairs for about an hour. The rest of the evening, we spent on the sofa with the kids. Family snuggle time. Netflix. We managed to stay awake until a few minutes after midnight.

The following day, we ventured to our neighbor friend's house again for dinner and dessert. I can't even begin to tell you how incredible it was to have dinner at someone else's house. December had been extremely busy. Non-stop. My back pain was through the roof. It took everything I had just to stand up straight and walk to their house.

Dinner was at 2. We were home by 4. Our tummies were happy and full.

Once the kids ate their dinner, we enjoyed family snuggle time on the sofa until it was time for Lisa and the kids to be tucked in.

The New Year's long weekend went by too fast, but we had a great time. We are blessed to have such awesome neighbor friends who included us in their festivities.

I'm looking forward to 2018. New adventures. Reaching goals. Success. Tackling the curveballs and challenges. More changes. Etc.

I raise my glass to the end of 2017 and the start of 2018!