Another year gone

I had a quiet New Year's Eve.

Gone are the days of attending big hotel dinner-dances or even big house parties with over-boisterous, manic, not-quite-real cheeriness. Nothing wrong with them, but they're just not for me anymore.

I started off the day having brunch with my favourite people followed by a trip to the cemetery and time for introspection. On the way home, I picked up some goodies for our own mini-celebration.

In the last few years, we've developed our own year-end party for two. We either have dinner out at a quiet local place or an easy to make dinner at home. We watch a favourite movie or two. Just before midnight, we put out a nice cognac pâté with crackers, smoked oysters and mussels and break open a bottled of chilled champagne. We turn on Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve just in time to watch the ball drop at Times Square and we toast in the new year with a sip of champagne and a new year's kiss. That's it. Not very exciting, but a warm and satisfying way to end the year.