Our New Year's Eve

Wow, I can't believe it was over two weeks ago and I'm just now getting around to posting about it!

New Year's Eve has never been my favorite. I can't tell you how many I've slept through only to wake up the next day and it was a new year even though I didn't stay awake to greet it. But...

it's important to all the other people in my house!


So a few years ago, I set out to make a bigger deal of it than I had been...which was nothing at all ;)

And you know what? It's become a favorite night for all of us! We start the evening with Todd's family recipe of paella. It was/is the meal his parents serve every New Year's Eve and he wanted to continue the tradition which is a win-win for me since I LOVE paella and I also LOVE when someone else cooks dinner! (The recipe I linked is not the one he uses but it's the closest I found. The nice thing about paella is you can toss in whatever meat you wish so our meat choices are different than the ones in this recipe).

Saffron is the key! It makes it that nice yellow color and tastes amazing!

After we eat, we play some board games. Santa added several new games to our stash this year and we couldn't wait to play them! Uno Attack and Scene It Harry Potter were the games of the evening and they were tons of fun!

Brandon kept getting the attack card that says you can't talk. He got it so often it was almost like a running joke!

Our desert for the evening is fondue. That has now become a tradition as well :) This year, because we are gluten-free, we made our own homemade angel food cake to serve with our chocolate. I was worried about how it would turn out using gluten-free flour but it was perfect!

Doesn't it look yummy?? It was perfect angel food cake! This is the recipe I used and just substituted my gluten-free flour blend in place of regular flour. We love Alton Brown! If you don't watch his cooking shows, you should :)


Fondue yumminess:

Kristen goes to a party thrown by a family we know well. I hate the thought of her out on New Year's Eve but it isn't far and she doesn't have to go on any main roads to get there so it works out nicely. They have a theme every year for fun and this year was "Bling in the New Year":

Doesn't she look blingy? Jon added his bling later...

I'm so proud of my gansta daughter and her gansta boyfriend! ;) Wait, that arm looks awfully bare...maybe I'll get her a tattoo for her birthday! ;) hehe They had a really good time :)

Meanwhile, here at home, everyone made it to ring in the New Year!

Megan could not take her eyes off the screen. She was watching that ball drop for the first time in her life and was so afraid she'd miss it! I love that I caught that moment.

It was great fun and a great way to start a brand new year!