One of my favorite events every year is our neighborhood New Year’s Eve Progressive. I can’t say with 100% certainty when I started this tradition but it spans at least the last 6 years. We start here at the Skinner Ranch and make our way eating and drinking through the evening as we briskly brave the chilly air walking from house to house. When we first started this, my girls would make it to the first few houses and eventually opt to return home where kid friendly snacks and Just Dance were entertainment enough. Now they can hang in there with the best of us….
Last night’s evening started off slower than in the past. Our “home” this year is our tiny cabin as we remodel our farmhouse and it is about as tiny as you can get. Most of the neighbors did not make the optional first stop here for the traditional expresso martini so we had some time to kill….and a dance party ensued. Que Jason setting up a last minute amp and some speakers, plug in the iPhone and wahla….we were up and running. I love dancing more than just about anything but with a room full of teenagers, I was NOT about to be the first one to make a move. No worries. Bella kicked it off in high gear with what I call the “used car balloon wavy” dance. From there we all joined in at some point…the two oldest teens wearing their matching Thing One and Thing Two once pajamas. Our tiny cabin heated up fast so we moved the dance party out to the deck where we coulee REALLY get our groove on.
At some point we released we were late to the next stop on the agenda (and I new I had enough bribery material successfully recorded) and we joined the rest of the neighborhood.
Flash forward to the last stop of the evening…our tiny cabin. We filled our tiny cabin with more than 20 people. I was impressed that we all fit and were fairly comfortable as well. We rang in the new year with champagne, jello shots, popcorn and donuts. We stayed up until 2 hanging out with the greatest neighbors a gal could ask for. Like all good things, the evening had to end and eventually we all went to bed.
The next morning, the 4 teens were passed out all over the tiny cabin so Jason and I had to creep around as quietly as possible to let them sleep lest we wake the angry beasts. Taking my first sober view of the remains from the night before, the mess was amazing. Champagne glasses left all around and jello shots laying in sad globs on the floor. Party hats and noisemakers tucked into every crevice. Popcorn and donut sprinkles littered the floor like edible confetti. It was a sight to see for sure. I silently cleaned it all up, impressed with my ninja cleaning skills. The only part I could not really tackle was the vacuuming which I decided could wait until the beasts awakened. When the girls FINALLY joined the world at noon I could not contain my excitement of being able to finish cleaning and I quipped ” Holy cow it’s like we had a party or something here last night” to which Bella replied “Actually I was thinking that it doesn’t look that bad at all”…..When I reminded her that I had been up for HOURS before her and did 90% of the cleanup in that time the realization dawned on her face as she said “Oh yeah. Riiiight.” See? The new year is already making us wiser.
Three Daughter's Ranch 