Happy New Year! It is now 2018!!!

We had so much fun last night! Here is how we said goodbye to 2017 and welcomed in 2018.

I am really hoping 2018 is a better year than 2017 was! For me and our family 2017 was really hard! There were a lot of disappointments and changes throughout the whole year! I was happy that we do a memory jar and read some of the good stuff that happened. It was good to remember that there were good things that happened this year, too! (We have been doing a Memory Jar for 4 or 5 years!)

Memory Jar

Doing a memory jar is easy! Get a glass jar or even a Mason jar and label it with “Memories of 2018”, “Memory Jar”, or any other clever thing you can think of. Ours says “Thankful Jar”.

Place slips of paper and a pen by the jar or even in the jar.  I like it in the jar because it keeps it all together. You want everything available for people to write.

When something is written, the paper is folded in half, which keeps the available slips separated from the written slips.

We already have a memory in the jar! Way to go Dad!

Memories

You can do any kind of memories you like. You can keep it positive and do the highlights of your year, include vacations, excursions, hikes, funny moments, or include the highs and lows. I prefer to have everyone do the best of the year. It helps us to be positive and at the end of the year we are remembering all of the good times we had together!

Evidently, this was so important it was put in three times! Twice by me because I forgot I did it the first time and wanted to make sure it made it in! 

On New Year’s Day, I write in my journal all the memories from the year, so they are in one place and we can throw the slips of paper away. Some years I have taken pictures of all the slips because it is nice to remember and see people’s handwriting.

Our 2017 New Year’s Eve to Welcome in 2018

Family movie

After going to church, we relaxed watching a fun movie, “We Love You, Sally Carmichael”. It is a great family movie! It is about an author who wants his privacy, plus he’s not exactly thrilled with the books he wrote that appeal to teenage girls. Sally Carmichael has a huge following and everyone is curious about the author. Problems and funny situations occur as he desperately tries to keep people from knowing he is Sally Carmichael. There are some surprising, big actors in this movie.

I don’t want to say too much and give it all away!

Everyone loved this movie and we will watch it again and again. Great family movie!

More movie time

Later in the evening, we watched “The Good Lie”. Reese Witherspoon stars in this movie based on a true story. It is about some children from Sudan who make their way to a refugee camp in the ’80s to escape war in their own country. They then make their way to the United States and experience all kinds of things that are new to them. It will tear at your heart, make you laugh and maybe even make you cry, but it is a really good movie with a great story. It is a little slower paced so younger kids might not like it and may not be appropriate (with the war issues) for children under 10.

Fondue

We love to do fondues on New Year’s Eve! We ended up just doing cheese and chocolate. I hurt my foot the day before Christmas Eve and have had to be off of it! It happened the day before Christmas Eve. My family did a wonderful job doing all of the cooking I had planned on doing.

My foot still isn’t better and I can’t be on it too long. So, we scaled back a bit. (Sorry for the ugly picture of my foot!)

I tried to break my foot and toes. Missed the last two stairs and fell.

Cheese Fondue

Stuff to dip into the cheese: cauliflower, Pretzel Bites, salami and sausages, gluten free crackers, warm baby potatoes and some cheese slices on the side.

I found this recipe for cheese fondue to try. It was very yummy and we couldn’t find any gruyere so we used Swiss and it was fabulous!

We had some cheese slices in case not everyone wanted the melted cheese with their crackers.

Chocolate Fondue

My daughter gave me a new Chocolate Fondue Fountain for Christmas. It makes it so easy to dip in the chocolate!

Here’s some of what we dipped into the chocolate fondue.

Gluten free sandwich cookies, gluten free vanilla wafers, gluten free animal cookies, marshmallows, gluten free graham crackers, Mandarin oranges, bananas, pineapple, green apple, red grapes and strawberries

Who doesn’t love chocolate covered strawberries?!

My oldest daughter made a s’more!

My kids use the fondue sticks and roast marshmallows over the flame of our gas stove. So, that is what my oldest daughter did before dipping the roasted marshmallow in the chocolate. Then she dipped her gluten free graham cracker into the chocolate and made a s’more! My other daughter was surprised she had made a s’more and said, “Where did you get the chocolate?!” We laughed really hard because she was standing right by the chocolate fountain and didn’t realize her sister had dipped everything into the chocolate! (Didn’t have a camera ready, so I missed a picture of her great looking treat!)

Game time

The best part of New Years Eve is the family time. Enjoying one another, laughing, eating and playing!

For Christmas, we got this great new game, Nefarious! You are a mad scientist and you draw cards for things you will invent to take over the world! Every game has 2 twists to it. To begin, as we were learning how to play, we only used one twist. After playing a few rounds we added the second twist. The twists make every game different! Your strategy might not work the same with every round! Once we had it figured out it was a lot of fun!

Rounds go quickly and the games are fun and short. Great for shorter attention spans and moving at a fast pace (depending on whom you are playing with).

My husband won all but one game. My oldest daughter is determined to beat him!!!!

Not happy that dad has won every round we have played! Someone might be a little competitive. . .

2018

We had a great time saying goodbye to 2017 and are looking forward with great anticipation to 2018. Come on 2018! We have great hopes for you!

Non-alcoholic sparkling juices

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