This New Year’s Eve was a bit special for our little family. On every previous one, we’ve either stayed in and watched half a movie until we fell asleep (the one right after Cheese was born), or hired a babysitter so we could go out for a few hours.
This year, however, we were invited over a friend’s house to watch the 9pm fireworks, WITH THE CHEESE. Unprecedented. Also, until this year, I would have considered it a disastrous idea. The Cheese is a terrible sleeper, as I’ve been saying since she was born. We never let her stay up late as it results in an extremely tired and cranky child the next day – making it not worth the night out.
I desperately wanted to join the party we were invited to however, and we managed to make it work by getting Cheese to take a very late afternoon nap in the car – something I usually avoid at all costs since it means her bedtime gets pushed back a few hours.
She woke, refreshed and ready to party, at around 5pm. Perfect timing.
Our wonderful friends have an apartment that has a great view of Sydney Harbour, so fireworks at their house is a truly generous invitation.
We had a lovely time pre-fireworks eating, drinking and chatting, and then eating more and more, while the Cheese busied herself making friends with all of the adults at the party. By the end of the night, they were all her new best friend, and had seen her perform “Oh Mister Sun” about a hundred times, and enjoyed a ballet recital too.
When it came time for fireworks, Cheese was excited, and was amazed at what she was seeing in the night sky (something she rarely sees actually, since we’re always home before dark).
While we were home and in bed by 10pm, it was our first New Year’s Eve actually doing something as a family, making it a really wonderful and special night for us all.
I hope you had an equally memorable night with your loved ones. I’d love to know how you celebrated, too.
Happy New Year, let’s see what 2015 brings with it!
