The Best New Year's Eve Party Ever

We were sick, so how could it be? 

How could it be nice to take care of sick kids on a holiday?  To be quarantined from the rest of the family does not sound like fun.

So how could it be? 

Sullivan just kept throwing up and throwing up and a couple of the other kids had coughs or were getting over the throw ups.

But it really was the best.

As much as we love love love our cousins, it was really nice to have a day at my parents house that was not an "event".  Nobody was worried about what to eat because nobody felt much like eating.  And nobody wanted to come over to eat because they might get sick. 

And when you are not stressed about helping prepare meals and keeping kids safe and house clean and getting to this or that event on time,

Sitting all day and holding a cuddly sick baby is really quite.....lovely.

I sat and watched two whole movies with my kids, and it was fun.  I wasn't worried that I was wasting time or that something else needed to be done.  I think they thought it was pretty special that I was with them, just being there and still and available.

Grandma came downstairs to ask if there was anything we wanted to do to celebrate.  We hummed and hawed a little, thinking the day was pretty much a flop.  But I hadn't let Simon eat that day, and he was ravenous for a hamburger.  Grandma offered to go get some.  Just then, Ruby opened a little drawer on an empty nick-knack shelf on my mom's wall.  She found an age-old box of sparklers that hadn't been opened.  Would they still work???

So we ate hamburgers and grenadine punch and decided to watch the New York New Year so we wouldn't have to stay up too late. 
We played some games and did the sparklers on the deck--they worked! 
Just a couple of minutes before the ball dropped, Grandma remembered a box of old party favors and brought it up. 
The kids put on silly masks and we blew noisemakers and had a good laugh.  Even Sullivan felt well enough for a few minutes to put on a mask and dance with the kids. 

It was an amazingly heartwarming and soul-nourishing scene. 

Happy, Happy New Year!