We had been planning a New Year’s Eve party at our place relatively early on; we’d had one the past several years and they’re always fun, especially for the kids (who get to stay up until midnight). This year, it was going to be a smaller party, as a number of people dropped out, for various reasons, but we still had a nice time planned and a decent-size group coming.

That was how it was supposed to work. The reality, though, is that both kids ended up getting sick—the seven year-old Sunday night (while at my parents’ house), and the nine year-old Tuesday night—so we ended up canceling the party.

(And by "sick", I don’t mean the kids came down with sniffly colds, or even just fevers; no, I’m talking full-on vomiting-all-over-the-place sick. The kind that you have to use nearly an entire roll of paper towels to mop up, gagging and breathing shallowly through your mouth the whole time.)

So, we canceled and had a very low-key New Year’s Eve instead. It was actually kind of nice. Our friends Paul and Sandi came over anyway (they don’t have kids and aren’t afraid of catching anything), brought cheese and beer, and it was a beery evening for three of us—my wife drank Margaritaville Frozen Concoctions. The kids were in bed by 9 o’clock (they got to see the ball drop in New York in realtime), with nary a peep, and we watched Sex and the City for the evening movie.

(I know, I know; it was a toss up between The Dark Knight, Hancock, and Sex and the City.)

Today was even lower-key, which is nice, too. I did have a bit of a headache this morning, but not a raging hangover like I had several years ago. I was able to get some work done and just enjoy the day (helped along, of course, by beer).

Hope everyone else’s 2009 started out just as well as mine.