A Simple New Years

We had a nice little New Years Eve, with just Mark, Seth and I. Mark was working and called when he was leaving. I started to get worried because he was taking a long time to get home and I couldn't get him on the phone. I should have known he had stopped by one of those roadside fireworks stands. He is a sucker for fireworks! I made crab cakes for dinner - my first attempt. They were pretty good but I think I'll do better next time. Seth loved watching the fireworks and doing sparklers - almost as much as his dad did. I told Seth he could stay up until midnight, but was absolutely shocked when he made it! We watched the ball drop on tv and shook our money outside - a tradition I got from my grandma. (Each year, right after midnight everyone goes outside and shakes a handful of silver coins and yells "Happy New Year."  No pennies allowed! After, the male with the darkest hair has to be the first one back in the house. This brings good luck to all who participate. I have always done this on NYE no matter where I was and have never seen a neighbor doing it too, so it must be fairly unusual. I tried to google it and from what I can tell it looks like a combination of Scottish and Filipino NYE traditions.) After the shaking of the coins, we promptly hit that hay - Mark had to work the next morning at 7.