Celebrating New Year’s Eve

I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but it’s close to 20 years since Peter and I retired. And we’ve been celebrating New Year’s Eve with the same people for almost that long too. Are our celebrations the same? Obviously not! Our bodies are almost 20 years older – modifications have to be made.

During the early years, we had just started curling together and the Weston Golf Club put on a bang-up party every December 31st. To start the new year off, we all got down in the hack and heaved those weighty rocks along the ice for several ends. Then we rushed upstairs to the showers and threw on fancy clothes: suits and ties for the men, party dresses and stiletto heels for the womem. Next we sat down to a meal of fat-trimmed steaks and loaded baked potatoes, and gorged on chocolate fountains or Baked Alaska for dessert. We hopped around the dance floor, waving our arms in time to the Village People’s YMCA, or Gloria Gaynor singing I Will Survive! After a midnight buffet snack of sandwiches and more desserts, we drank champagne and danced some more. We made it home in time for bed around 2:00 am.

When Weston cancelled their NYE party, we switched to an Italian church hall in the country for a few years. The man focus was the 7-course meal beginning with an anitpasto table, and carrying on with pasta, meat, a tripe course which most of us skipped, fish, salad and dessert. We danced to polka music and a few slow songs by Andrea Bocelli. At midnight we drank champagne and blew noise-makers, and made it home by around 1:00 am.

Then Peter and I moved to the city. You’d think that our NYE celebrations would be more upscale and end later. But we were all getting a little older, so we settled for the Famous People Players event. The men exchanged their suits for sweaters, and the women gave up heels for trendy flats. We spent part of the evening sitting and watching a group of young performers make magic with intricate movements and black lighting. We ate a big enough meal and then danced with our champagne glasses until the toast at midnight.

Following those years, we were interrupted by COVID. For our celebration of 2020-2021, we had a small gathering in our garage, with everyone wearing coats, hats, and mitts along with our masks. We had a toast to the new year, safely distancing from one another and freezing half to death. The next year we tried to host a house party with a meal ordered from a restaurant. But some couples opted out due to possible Covid symptoms, and the rest of us slowed down considerably about 11:00 pm. It was a struggle to stay awake until midnight.

Last year, in recogniation of our ah… age, we chose a different kind of party. We met at the home of one couple around 5:00 pm, armed with appertizers and wine. The dress code was “smart casual’ which meant that the men wore whatever they grabbed out of their closets, and the women wore glittery sweaters, and replaced their outdoor boots with slippers, at the door. We snacked on veggies, shrimp and sushi, and talked till about 9:30 pm, when we switched to champagne and cookies. We celebrated the new year at 10:00.

The party was so successful that, this year, we decided to do it again! We seem to have figured out a celebration that works for our age. For the next 20 years at least.

Happy New Year, dear readers. And let’s all make it our New Year’s resolution to continue finding ways to do the things we love - with some adjustments.

Sue