Xin nian kuai le!

This year Austin and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary.  For almost the 4th year in a row, we forgot to even say Happy Anniversary to each other until the end of the day.  (Last year we did remember, and Austin got me a book.)

 

Having said that, we always do something fun to celebrate our wedding.  We just usually choose to celebrate during a time that isn't also Christmas!  Last year we went to Lake Powell with my Uncle's family.  The previous year we went to Mexico.  The year before that we saw a Virginia Coalition concert in Denver.  And this year we are in China. 
But the next day, Austin and I had a nice walk thru our big-city neighborhood to get a McDonald's ice cream cone (in the freezing cold!), and then we walked around the local mall and gawked at the senselessly expensive wares and at the people in the arcade.  (Carson really got down with Dance Dance Revolution.  I had to work hard to keep him off the platform while this one guy was jammin'.  The boy wants to dance!)

 

Shortly after Christmas and the Anniversary follows the celebration of the end of another year.  I've always been sad at the lack of good ways we have to celebrate this holiday.  Much like St Patrick's Day, it's mostly just for getting drunk and partying all night long.  Neither of which I'm in to.  As a young girl, I always longed for that "kiss at midnight."  That's okay and all, but let's be honest.  I can get a kiss at 10:00 and still get a good nite's rest!  In England they bang pots and pans, have fireworks, and "first-footing."  In Ecuador, they burn the ano viejo.  In China...well, for their own New Year celebration, they have massive fireworks displays.  This year, I decided to take matters into my own hands.  First of all, I'm trying to start a New Year's breakfast tradition of making crepes.  I made the batter tonite.  I'll let you know how the making of the crepes turns out tomorrow.  Secondly, I decided to make an ano viejo.  Now, I live in high rise apartment building with no outdoor property where I could inconspicuously have a bon fire.  So I've had to settle for a small-ish paperdoll.  I don't have any matches or a lighter, so I'll have to burn him over the stove.  It's gonna be awesome.

 

Actually, I've short-changed my previous New Year's traditions.  At my house, we made pigs-in-a-blanket and other fun, fatty, finger foods.  Then we gathered and played games or watched a movie until it was time to watch whichever countdown celebration appealed to us that year.  And that was fun.  I'll probably start that again next year when I can get ahold of pigs and blankets.