My New Year’s Eve Plans vs. My New Year’s Eve Reality

I planned to have this awesome New Year’s Eve Party for my son and his cousins! I planned to set the clocks forward a few hours so they wouldn’t know it wasn’t midnight. I made a list of their favorite snacks.  I bought a giant piñata and filled it with chocolate coins and noise makers. I found a great craft on Pinterest to make our own confetti poppers using left over wrapping paper and empty toilet paper rolls. I even bought glow sticks and small fireworks for my husband to do a show in the back yard!  That was the plan.

The reality is that after all the Christmas Craziness…. I just want a break. I’m not inviting anyone over. I’m not making any more party trays full of junk food. I’m not in the mood to make confetti poppers with a bunch of toddlers, besides I already threw out all the wrapping paper and who saves toilet paper rolls? We are going to eat pizza and maybe watch a few small fireworks in the back yard with my son and my husband. Then, with some luck, I’ll get my son in bed by 8:00.

I planned to buy some expensive champagne and stay up past midnight to ring in 2015 with my husband; just a quiet little celebration for the two of us. Of course I’ll make cheesecake because that’s our tradition. We can snuggle up on the couch and watch the ball drop together.

The reality is that I’m so tired of baking after making 5 different kinds of cookies and tons of finger foods. I’m going to pick up a cheesecake sampler from the grocery store and eat it with paper plates so I don’t have to wash more dishes. Also, let’s be honest, I’m going to fall asleep by 10:00.

I planned to order pizza for dinner from our favorite local place. They have the best sauce in the world!  Then, I discovered that New Year’s Eve is one of the busiest pizza delivery days of the year. Who knew? So…

The reality is that we will be eating frozen pizzas from the grocery store because I can’t remember to call the pizza place two hours before we want to eat dinner. Bonus, the grocery store has frozen pizzas on sale this week!

Things don’t always turn out the way that we plan and that’s really okay.  This year, I resolve to try to do less planning and more “rolling with the punches.” And if I can’t stop planning so much, I’ll just have to learn to be okay with adapting my plan to fit my reality. Maybe New Year’s Eve will be good practice for that.

Do you have any New Year’s Eve plans or traditions you’ve had to adapt since becoming a mom? I’d love to hear about your reality in the comments.

Written by: Sara Parise