Happy (Almost-)New Year!

In Team SFNE tradition, no big plans for tonight. My husband's favorite tradition is to be safely asleep well before the big ball drops in Times Square. I imagine he'll stick to it, though The Boy is still of an age where staying up to midnight seems exotic and tantalizing.

Big activities for this evening include Jim and The Boy making souffles--chocolate, banana, and strawberry (an experiment made with jam). Jim is the best home cook I know (are the more than 500 cookbooks in our collection a giveaway?) and a great teacher, so The Boy is learning from the best. The Boy has been very excited about learning the art of the souffle since we took him this week for lunch to Pierrot Bistrot, where the waitress doted on him and persuaded the chef to make him a Grand Marnier souffle. (They usually only do that for dinner, but The Boy is so cute that he's hard to refuse.) Maybe souffle making will become a new Team SFNE tradition.

I've been married since right out of grad school (okay, I confess: grad school dropout here--I was only 23 when we married), so I guess I don't look at New Year's Eve the way a lot of folks do. My brother tells me that the whole "meeting your true love on New Year's Eve thing" is pretty overrated, and I can see his point--a little too much neediness, perhaps? Too many expectations to be met realistically? (On the other hand, meeting your true love at a New Year's Day dim sum brunch--that I could understand. Everyone's your friend when you pass the dumplings.)

So whatever you're up to--snug at home (it's supposed to snow) or out partying with friends or giving that whole meeting-your-true-love-against-all-odds thing a try--stay safe, stay warm, hand over your keys or be the designated driver. I value my all my friends, whether of the real or virtual variety, and I want you all in good shape for 2006.