As I've alluded to before in this space, my kids are night-owls. They have the ability to stay up until the wee small hours for no apparent reason. Of course, it helps when you can sleep until noon the next day, but still, it is quite impressive. When I was a kid, staying up late usually meant hearing the first few notes of The Tonight Show's theme music and Ed McMahon saying "Here's Johnny." A relative once told me the safest place to be between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. was in bed because, according to him, "nothing ever happened there." I think it was a reference to safety and not a commentary on the state of his long marriage, but I'm not sure. I was never too interested in staying up late with the exception of two nights a year. I used to try and watch the entire Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon...with limited success and, on New Year's Eve, I'd try to make it until midnight.

New Year's Eve meant watching Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians playing their hearts out on stage at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. My grandma and I would sit and play Yahtzee or Gin Rummy, listening to the music. Many years, I didn't make it to midnight so we'd just celebrate with the eastern time zones. But, on the rare occasions I could keep my eyes open, my grandma and I would fill our fancy champagne glasses with grape juice and toast the new year. Despite my head not hitting the pillow until 12:01 a.m., I would always be up early enough to watch the Rose Parade. Not because, I particularly cared about the floats and bands and Grand Marshall. I would make sure it was on so my mom would see it and then I'd start lobbying for a color TV set. "Wow, I'll bet all those flowers would be something to see IN COLOR!" I'd say...with great subtlety. My mom was not then, and still isn't, much of a television watcher, so something like the Rose Parade was about the only chance to try to get her vote toward a color TV. It never worked. My dad said he'd buy a new TV for the parade if it was smell-o-vision so you could enjoy the aroma of all those flowers but that was as close as we got. I know we did get a new black and white TV when President Kennedy was killed because my dad wanted to make sure we could clearly see that sad and historic event but I don't quite remember when and why we eventually made the jump to color. I think it was about the time he also got a power mower and lawn sweeper and a small boat...all of which happened about the time my older brothers moved out of the house. Maybe he just didn't like them.

Over the years, I've only been actually out on New Year's Eve about two times. The first was when I was working at a ski lodge in Wisconsin and got hired to provide piano music in the dining room. It was quite sedate as people were eating their holiday meals but, around midnight, even the dining room was a little too rowdy for my taste. As the clock struck 12, I realized I had neglected to learn how to play Auld Lang Syne. I tried to play it by ear but it was lousy. It sounded like an inebriated chicken rehearsing the first few measures of Smoke On The Water. Fortunately, a kindly old waitress sensed my distress and started everyone singing the song to drown out my pathetic pecking. I was not invited back the following year.

The only other big night out, was at Union Station on December 31, 1999. The whole family went to the party and it was terrific. That wonderful building had only recently been renovated and it was spectacular. The balloon drop was memorable and we saw the amazing McFadden Brothers perform. It would be hard to top that celebration so we've been happily home for the holiday ever since, including this past year.

Our oldest son went to a party with his friends. Our second oldest had to work. I was in bed by 10:00 because we had FirstNews on January 1. (By the way, traffic at 2:30 a.m. was like the middle of the day. I'm pretty sure that very few of my fellow road warriors were hurrying home to turn on the show at 5:00 a.m.!) My lovely wife and the two little kids made it to midnight. The dog was in Time's Square hosting the ball drop for Animal Planet. Okay. That's a lie...which means I've already broken one of my 2007 resolutions...again.