Anatomy of a possibly pathetic New Year’s Eve

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There was a time (and perhaps there will be again) when my friends and I hosted some enormous New Year’s Eve parties, complete with keg stands, dancing and police raids.

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This year, my New Year’s Eve did not resemble those days of yore in the slightest. As I look back, I’m not sure if I am pleased or horrified by the way I spent my New Year’s Eve and the first few hours of 2014.

December 31, 2014
6:00 PM

Friends arrive for dinner. I spend much of the evening giving notes to my friend on the screenplay for his latest pilot and taunt him about my recently discovered IMDB page. We also discuss plans for my screenplay, my  golf memoir and the revisions of my latest novel.

9:00 PM

Friends leave to put their children (and my friend) to bed. Elysha and I read books to Clara before putting her to bed.

9:30 PM

Elysha and I sit across from each other, pecking away on our laptops. She threatens to go to bed (she’s sick) but stays up for about an hour, poking around on the Internet. I resume work on my manuscript. It is due to my editor on Friday, and I have been obsessively honing it for more than a week.

10:30 PM

Elysha finally goes to bed. I continue work on the manuscript.

January 1, 2014
12:00 AM

The cuckoo clock signals midnight. 2014 has arrived. I drink champagne from the bottle and ring in the New Year alone. Even the dog is asleep.

12:05 AM

I resume work on the manuscript.

1:45 AM

I finally go to bed.

2:30 AM

Charlie wakes up, crying. I rock him back to sleep.

3:00 AM

Back to bed.

6:00 AM

Charlie wakes up for good. We eat breakfast, empty dishwasher, sweep and mop floor and play with trucks.

7:30 AM

I bring Charlie upstairs to Elysha. I walk the dog.

8:00 AM

I resume my work on the manuscript.

9:30 AM

Family leaves for brunch with friends. I resume work on the manuscript.

When my family arrives home around 1:30 PM, I finally stop working for a while and spend some leisure time with them. I ride scooters around the house with my daughter, fly my remote controlled helicopter, crawl around on the floor with my son, eat dessert for lunch and take down the Christmas tree.

Even that isn’t exactly leisure.

While I’m pleased with the work that I accomplished thus far in 2014, I’m not sure if New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day were the best times to get this work done.

You only get one New Year’s Eve a year. I’m not sure if ringing in the New Year alone, sitting at the laptop, drinking champagne from the bottle, is the best way to spend it.

Perhaps next year I will be less… I’m not sure.

You tell me the word.