Every year for as long as I could remember, I spent my childhood New Years with my Omi. Together, we would create our own little New Year’s Eve celebrations while my mother went out to some party or dinner with friends. We’d put on silly hats, light sparklers (and the linoleum floor in the kitchen of my old house still has the burn marks to prove it!), and shake all sorts of noisemakers at midnight. Those were special memories we made each December 31, and I cherish said memories even now, many years after my grandmother’s death.
Last year we hosted our own little new year’s party, and one of the boys insisted on staying awake and ringing in 2012 with us, despite it being an “adults” party.
This year, Trevor and I decided the boys were old enough to officially stay up for new year’s if they wanted to (they do), and I looked forward to celebrating their first “real” New Year’s Eve together.
Alas, in an unexpected twist of fate, we’ll be apart. Trevor and the boys got invited to a New Year’s party that Tatsy and I did not get invited to. Not wanting to ruin this special opportunity for Alex and SImon by making them feel guilty about attending a “real” party which Mom had not been invited to and might be feeling sad about, we went ahead and made our own plans, involving a 7-hour airplane ride across the Atlantic!
So I won’t be able to share in the boys’ first New Year’s experience.
I was surprised, actually, to discover how much this reality affected me: At first, I kind of went with the flow, looked on the bright side (it’ll be nice to get away for a few days, to rest and relax without kids or dog, southern Europe is much warmer than Canada this time of year, who doesn’t love to explore a new city, etc., etc.) But as we sit in the airport waiting for our flight to board, I can’t help but be a little resentful of the adults who will get to ring in 2013 with my babies!!!
Ahhh, the curse of parenthood – rarely can such a circumstance be emulated where we love so much it hurts, where we are at times simultaneously desperate for a break from our children, and also overwhelmed by our desire to gather them into our arms for a hug, where we want at once to both strangle and kiss them!
Happily, we spent the preceding three days together as a family, in Niagara Falls at Great Wolf Lodge, where – as one very attuned reviewer wrote – there is on constant display an abundance of “fat people and poorly-thought-out tattoos”! Together, we played video games, frolicked in the water park, ate greasy, processed food, and watched silly movies. We visited wax museums and believed it or didn’t on Clifton Hill, and – after a long, snowy drive home – played one last board game together, and I read them a story.
Then, my babies and their dad drove me and my gal to the airport for our overseas winter adventure, and I wished them a good time at their New Year’s Party, with promises to Skype at midnight.
Maybe it’s not such a big deal, this specific date. In the grander scheme of things, what is more important, the day-to-day interactions with one’s children, or spending one specific night with them?
And yet, I made their Dad promise me that next year, we’d spend it together.
So, I’m looking forward to New Year’s 2013 in Lisbon, but I am also looking forward to ringing in 2014 with Alex and Simon. Wherever we are then, we'll be there together. I won't let anyone rob me of that.
Last year we hosted our own little new year’s party, and one of the boys insisted on staying awake and ringing in 2012 with us, despite it being an “adults” party.
This year, Trevor and I decided the boys were old enough to officially stay up for new year’s if they wanted to (they do), and I looked forward to celebrating their first “real” New Year’s Eve together.
Alas, in an unexpected twist of fate, we’ll be apart. Trevor and the boys got invited to a New Year’s party that Tatsy and I did not get invited to. Not wanting to ruin this special opportunity for Alex and SImon by making them feel guilty about attending a “real” party which Mom had not been invited to and might be feeling sad about, we went ahead and made our own plans, involving a 7-hour airplane ride across the Atlantic!
So I won’t be able to share in the boys’ first New Year’s experience.
I was surprised, actually, to discover how much this reality affected me: At first, I kind of went with the flow, looked on the bright side (it’ll be nice to get away for a few days, to rest and relax without kids or dog, southern Europe is much warmer than Canada this time of year, who doesn’t love to explore a new city, etc., etc.) But as we sit in the airport waiting for our flight to board, I can’t help but be a little resentful of the adults who will get to ring in 2013 with my babies!!!
Ahhh, the curse of parenthood – rarely can such a circumstance be emulated where we love so much it hurts, where we are at times simultaneously desperate for a break from our children, and also overwhelmed by our desire to gather them into our arms for a hug, where we want at once to both strangle and kiss them!
Happily, we spent the preceding three days together as a family, in Niagara Falls at Great Wolf Lodge, where – as one very attuned reviewer wrote – there is on constant display an abundance of “fat people and poorly-thought-out tattoos”! Together, we played video games, frolicked in the water park, ate greasy, processed food, and watched silly movies. We visited wax museums and believed it or didn’t on Clifton Hill, and – after a long, snowy drive home – played one last board game together, and I read them a story.
Then, my babies and their dad drove me and my gal to the airport for our overseas winter adventure, and I wished them a good time at their New Year’s Party, with promises to Skype at midnight.
Maybe it’s not such a big deal, this specific date. In the grander scheme of things, what is more important, the day-to-day interactions with one’s children, or spending one specific night with them?
And yet, I made their Dad promise me that next year, we’d spend it together.
So, I’m looking forward to New Year’s 2013 in Lisbon, but I am also looking forward to ringing in 2014 with Alex and Simon. Wherever we are then, we'll be there together. I won't let anyone rob me of that.
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