Happy New Year!

3...2...1... Happy New Year! I'm sure this post will find many of you recovering from a night of partying! Here in Alaska, Lee and I celebrated in our usual low-key way. We went out to dinner at a Thai restaurant we heard you could see the fireworks from. We ended up not being able to see the fireworks from our table, but the atmosphere was lovely - they turned off the lights and we ate by candle light. We then stopped by the liquor store on our way home to get a bottle of champaigne and some chambourd to add.



Then we toasted in the New Year here in our little cabin.



Lovely, really.

Outside you could hear fireworks coming from all over the city. They seem to party it up here in Fairbanks, with four different sets of official fireworks throughout the night. No Partying for us. We were tucked in the woods together.

Traditionally, Lee and I always spend New Year's Eve together just the two of us because it is the anniversary of our first date. That first New Year's Eve together, we went out to Pawtuckaway State Park in the middle of a major snow storm, walked to the climbing area down icy trails, carrying a bottle of wine and a pomegranate, falling the whole way. In the dark of the forest, we knew it was midnight when we heard the distant explosions of fireworks celebrations. We kissed to ring in the new year, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Last night reminded me a lot of our first New Year's Eve together. It snowed, though not as much, and we were tucked in the woods. And it was our first time ringing in the new year as a married couple. Good omens abounded. Right after midnight, Lee came rushing in because there was aurora. We haven't seen the aurora in months. The clouds parted and the sky lit up green on the horizon, ushering in the new year with it's own fireworks display. A sign it will be a good year - I'm sure of it!


Cheers, everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful New Year's celebration.