New Year's Eve Celebrations - Fiestas del año nuevo

[JoAnne]

Quizas os interese lo que vamos a hacer para la Nochevieja este año. Tenemos hace unos años Art y yo una tradicion de celebrarla con nuestros padres. Este año reunimos con mi padre, 84, y mi tia, 91, que vive con mi padre, y los padres de Art. Vamos a cenar juntos. Luego jugaremos unos juegos de tablero durante dos o tres horas. Temo que no vayamos a acostarnos tarde--ellos, por su edad, y yo por mis responsibilidades la manana siguiente. Voy a la misa, enseno una clase de adultos a la iglesia y tejo chales para enfermos con un grupo cada domingo. Asi que tengo que estar alerta domingo por la manana.

Voy a preparar para la cena una receta de Arroz con Pollo heredada de la familia de mi suegra (la americana de origenes espanol). Mi suegra va a preparar un flan para postre. Tendremos guisantes y ensalada tambien.

Normalmente cuando llegue la medianoche, vamos afuera para dar golpes en ollas de cocina, y despues nos embrazamos. Pero este año Art va a traer unas uvas para comer y senalar las 12 horas.

Me gustaria leer como vais celebrar esta noche. JoAnne

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Maybe you all would be interested in how we're going to celebrate New Year's Eve this year. For several years, Art and I have celebrated with together with both sets of parents. This year we're going to get together with my dad, 84, and my aunt, 91, who lives with my dad, and his parents. We'll have dinner together and later we'll play a few board games for a few hours. I'm afraid we probably won't make it to 12 midnight, because they're elderly and because I have responsibilities at church on Sunday morning. I go to worship, I teach an adult Bible study class, and then I knit prayer shawls with a group. The shawls are for the sick, lonely, and discouraged. So I have to be alert on Sunday morning.

I am going to fix Arroz con Pollo for the dinner, a recipe I inherited from my mother-in-law's family. My mother-in-law is going to make flan for dessert. We'll also have peas and salad.

Normally when the clock strikes midnight, we step outside and clang pans with wooden spoons, and then hug and kiss, but this year Art is bringing some grapes for us to mark the 12 hours of midnight, whether we actually make it to 12 o'clock or not!

I'd be interested in knowing what the rest of you are doing, no matter what side of the Atlantic you're on. JoAnne

[Ron Gonzalez]

JoAnne
We were going to stay home, but after looking at your dinner menu we are going to Maryland. (We will bring our own wooden spoon.) Just joking

[Barbara Alonso Novellino]

JoAnne,

We are going to spend New Year's Eve at my daughter's house with her our precious Grandaughter, family and friends.

The kids play games in my Grandaughter's Playroom and the grownups sit around talking and catching up.

We all wait for the Ball to drop in Times Square...then we have some champagne to toast the New Year and the kids have Sparkling Cider...no one is left out.

All in all its a very pleasant evening spent with those we LOVE.

Barbara

[Art]

JoAnne suggested a new twist on the Spanish tradition of grapes at midnight. At about 10:30, we ate the grapes at one grape at a time as we told about one hopes for the new year. After about 4-5 grapes each, we had run through most of our hopes. We could never have completed that while the bell tolled.

Hey, Ron, we missed you!

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JoAnne sugirió una nueva variación para la tradición española de uvas a la medianoche. A las 10:30 aproximadamente, comimos las uvas, una una uva a la vez mientras dijimos una esperanza para el año nuevo. Después de aproximadamente 4-5 uvas cada personna, habíamos contemplado la mayor parte de nuestras esperanzas. Nunca podríamos completarlo mientras la campana dobló.

¡Oye, Ron, os echamos de menos!

[JoAnne]

Here's a photo of our big New Year's Eve celebration. My Asturian-American mother-in-law approved of the arroz con pollo that I made, and we had fun playing two games and having conversation, so it was a good way to end 2005 and begin 2006.

Left to right: Me, my dad, Art, my mother-in-law, and my father-in-law. We were playing the Ungame, which is a non-competitive game in which you share answers to questions about your memories, hopes, and dreams. Even though we've known each other for years, we still learned things about each other.



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trans. Art

Aquí está una foto de nuestra gran celebración de Nochevieja. Mi suegra astur-americana aprobó del arroz con pollo que hice, y nos divertimos jugando dos juegos y charlando, entonces era un buen modo de terminar el año 2005 y comenzar el de 2006.

De la izquierda a la derecha: yo, mi papá, Art, mi suegra, y mi suegro. Nosotros jugábamos el "UnGame" [no juego], que es un juego no competitivo en el cual se comparte respuestas a preguntas sobre sus memorias, esperanzas, y sueños. Incluso aunque conociéramos el uno al otro durante años, todavía aprendíamos cosas el uno sobre el otro.