New Year’s Eve has never quite lived up to its rad and rowdy reputation for me. I think Christmas takes it all out of me, so by the time NYE rolls around, I’m out of energy to plan a party. So this year, we decided to do things differently. We ordered Chinese take-out, bought some ice cream and headed home to build a romantic fire. We were going to keep things low key. I was skeptical at first. (Doesn’t NYE require a fancy dress and glitter? Won’t I be missing out on all the crazy fun and smooching that everyone else in the world is having at midnight?) But then I thought – shut up, brain! Here is the man you love, building you a romantic fire and lighting candles! There’s General Tso’s and Ben and Jerry’s to be had! You can spend the evening snuggled up together, dreaming about the future and talking about how awesome 2012 was. This started to sound more and more perfect.
… And then our house filled with smoke.
Lights on, food put to the side, candles blown out, windows and doors thrown open, and throats burning, the next hour or so of our NYE was spent aerating our home in 30 degree weather.
Ah, isn’t that how life is? The best laid plans go awry. Our lives are interrupted by wrong turns and things don’t go as expected. I tend to hold tightly to plans. I like things to turn out exactly like the perfect picture I imagine. But this NYE (and this year) I tried to remind myself: Grace, not perfection. Grace allows me to move forward more quickly, grace allows me to love more fully, grace makes room for the unexpected.
Once the fire had subsided, we had to laugh. We got into pj’s, grabbed the ice cream and champagne, and climbed into bed. Our house smelled like a dirty ashtray. There were no candles. I wasn’t wearing a pretty dress. And we fell asleep at 11pm. But we did have a great conversation about our past year and our hopes for the new one. We laughed over memories and thanked God for our blessings. We drank all the champagne. NYE 2012: It was a good one.
How did you spend New Year’s Eve? Got a great story like mine?
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