We went to my in-laws for New Year's Eve. I was expecting revelry, a house full of family and lively discussions about nothing in particular. Instead, we went to possibly the quietest "party" we have attended in some time. My wife's sister and two kids were with her husband's family, her brother and the battallion of noisy kids were at his house entertaining his wife's family, so it was us, my wife's parents, her older sister, hubby and a cousin who was my classmate since kinder, so we go way back.
The food was great, we had a brisquet, menudo, rice and beans, assorted pies and chips and dips. We were just missing that spark, what makes a party feel like there is so much going on, you can't take it all in. I offered Boy fireworks and he was unsure he wanted some, not because he is 20 and too old, he just said it was too cold to be outside. Chubs wanted fireworks and even found a flyerwith pictures. Here, get me some of these, and some of those, although he wasn't going to go, because he was warm inside the house, and didn't want to put his jacket on. I talked Boy into going with me, for the younger one's sake. But then, we just got $40 worth of fireworks, usually it's over $250 and usually the brother in law and nephews are also buying so we can all be out on the street. Chubs got an assortment of smoke balls and crackling smoke balls, along with about 18 tanks. There was a sale on those, and he only asked for that. One of the guys at the stand tried talking me into a $75 box, he'd throw in a $5 discount, but it didn't seem like fun, knowing we'd have to be outside until we popped everything in the box. I said no thanks.
Back home, we ate, it was good, then we actually sat and watched ball drop in New York, we've never really done that, but nothing else was going on. Wife eventually got up, we opened champagne, and sparkling grape for kids, and put on goofy hats and readied with our handheld poppers. Happy New Year's right on schedule, pop, pop, pop, drink drink, eat some black eyed peas for luck, and onto the phones to say the same to our loved ones not present.
Everything was fine, I can't complain about anything, but when you expect a party, and are met with more of a gathering, you can't help but feel a little cheated. As everybody loves to say, you have your health, quit bitching, but ehh, I still feel like I was tricked somehow. Maybe next year we'll try New Year's Eve elsewhere, we've had parties in our house, maybe go down to my folks, although I'm still recuperating from the last visit, I don't know. Stupid TV gives us these idealized visions, where everything is just great, reality doesn't even come with that good of a soundtrack, let alone good lighting or retakes when you spill your drink or fart at inopportune times.
Boy stunned me, I was thinking he was bored out of his mind, at a certain point I said this kinda sucks, he just said "it's cool Dad, tomorrow we can still go to Bass Pro Shops on our way back home." Maybe that Boy of mine is already a better human than me, he found the silver lining quicker than me this time.
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