New Years

Tomorrow in New Year's Eve. Monday will be the start of the 2007. I like when it works out so nicely like that.

What I always hated was when New Year's Eve and New Year's Day both fell on a weekend. You see, at the car dealership I worked at while in high school. We received a half day off, with pay, on New Year's Eve, and a full day off with pay for New Year's Day. If they fell on a weekend, we did not get that "bonus" day off.

That's actually not what I wanted to talk about.

Every New Year's Eve (well, every NYE since the 7th grade), I go to a party at my friend M's. I suppose most wouldn't consider it a party. A group of ten to twenty of us sit around in M's basement, watch "The Labyrinth" prior to midnight, and "When Harry Met Sally" after midnight. At midnight, we run outside, blow noisemakers, shoot silly string, and generally make a lot of noise. Throughout the night, we snack on vegetable trays, chips and dips, fruit, and other assorted party snacks, while sipping sparking grape juice.

My point of this is not to brag. You see, all of the above is provided to us by M's parents. I was thinking earlier tonight how lucky I am that I do not have to spend any money on my NYE festivities. That led me to think, I wonder how much M's parents spend on us every NYE without complaining or asking us to chip in?

I figure, for the cost of food, drink, party supplies, and the movies (we rented them every year up until a three or four years ago when M's parents bought them), they must spend at least a hundred dollars every year on us. That's over seven hundred dollars they've spend on our NYE party in the life of it happening. Almost a thousand dollars on friends of their daughter. I'm not even taking into account the cost of the extra utilities we use, the sleep they lose while we're there, and the time they spend shopping for all these supplies.

It's true that M's parents are reasonably wealthy, and they can probably easily afford the things they buy for us, but it's still not fair to them.

I cannot make up for the last seven years, but I think this year I will bring a small gift to them to show my appreciation. I don't know what I would have done these past years without this party, it is one of the highlights of my year, and what better way to spend the New Year than with friends?

Happy New Year to all, and to all a good (and safe!) night!


[Edit: And funnily enough, after thinking about this so much, M's mom has the flu, so we're having our gathering at another friend's apartment, and it's BYOE (bring your own everything)!]