New Year's Eve

Doug, Cameron, and I were back in Orlando today. Cal and Maggie were checking out of their room at Port Orleans Riverside to go to a JW Marriott closer to the airport. Cameron and I picked them up at checkout and then got Meg at her hotel before traveling to the rental car facility so that Nick could return his vehicle. The six of us met Doug near the Marriott at a family favorite, Mellow Mushroom. He had gotten off work at noon today and was thankful to be able to have lunch with all of us. Meg and I enjoyed the wings and pretzels, and everyone else said that the pizza was delicious.  After lunch, we said goodbye to Meg and Nick at the restaurant as they Ubered back to their hotel. Doug left for Ocala to hopefully jog before Cameron and I made it back home. We dropped Maggie and Cal off at their hotel. They were looking forward to using the lazy river and watching the fireworks from their hotel room.

Traffic was lighter than I thought it would be for New Year’s Eve, and I was thankful to make it home before dark. Cameron and I talked to Brett on the way back to see what his plans were for the night. He, Sean, and Jovie were going to continue their karaoke tradition at Sean‘s after mass. The three of us in Ocala held onto some of our New Year’s Eve traditions as well. We chose to have a game night and invited Phil over to play Catan.  We also cooked several of our favorite New Year's Eve finger foods, including nachos and cocktail weenies. After Phil left, we turned on our New Year’s Eve television staple, The Twilight Zone. The guys also put on the Penn State football game on the lanai TV.  We watched both programs muted as we listened to music from the record player. Cameron joked that we had to be the only family in America that could watch The Twilight Zone without subtitles and still follow along perfectly.  One thing that I don't think will become a tradition is drinking martinis.  Doug and Cameron wanted to have a martini night to go along with Doug's new Goldfinger album.  They weren't quite as good as Cameron envisioned, but he was glad that he finally tried one.  Midnight came a lot quicker than I expected and soon we were outside watching the fireworks from our front porch. I was so happy that everyone had found a fun way to ring in the new year.