Releasing the fun in 2004.

We spent New Year's Eve in a way famliar to parents all across the land: we stayed at home. The two little kids were in bed by nine, the oldest got to stay up with us to ring in the new year. At midnight, we popped some champagne and sparkling cider, stepped out onto our front porch, fired off a few shotgun blasts party streamers, and went to bed about 10 minutes later.

Highlight of the evening: the slogan on the party streamers (which, by the way, are no longer propelled by gunpowder, but by blowing into a pouch and squeezing it) which reads:


Blow up the pouch and release the fun.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is my New Year's resolution.