New Years Eve Escapades...

So on Christmas Night we all getting seriously jiggy to Black Eyed Peas " I gotta feeling "when it occurred to me with chilling clarity that I had not yet fulfilled the vow made earlier this year. Summer has long since departed but I figured that at least it had to be within the calendar year. Which meant I had one week. One. Week.

Which meant for the next week my friends and family were forced to participate in shooting endless footage for this endeavour.

To the tune of I gotta feeling. Because really...that's a good song to use for something like this. As demonstrated by all the people on youtube who thought so too. Mostly because I saw how every last one of us got going to that song and there was lots of lyrical fun potential. And....Black Eyed Peas....New Years Eve? C'mon now. It was meant to be.

We decided that we also wanted it to be a time capsule of some of the things we were into doing this year. You know.....blogging....and um.... squatting up against a wall....and like...soccer..."honey...what did we do this year?"

By New Year's Eve afternoon I had a long line of people aged 5-41 attempting to do synchronized push-ups in time to, "let's do it, let's do it, let's do it, do it, do it"....

"NO! That wasn't right. Finny you were down when Gracie was up. Let's take it from the top people. I don't care that you have done 50 push-ups already. You can do a few more."

I wasn't all that popular at that juncture.

On New Year's Eve we still had some footage. Including the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday....scene. Here are Aaron and Nathan in their directorial debut. The children are in all sorts of trouble because they can't tell what their motivation is, they weren't feeling it. The children clearly weren't committed. And it's a recession people! We can find other children to do your job. (Note the time.)



There was the traditional New Years Eve, "girls trying to be sexay" photo shoot. Sadly I never look as hot as I do in my head. I'm not sure what this particular pose is all about. Not sure if I should caption it"Look! I have ear-lobes? Also! I can make a face like a fishy!" or "Check me out trying too hard!" But Amy and Cindi do look very fetching, no?

The Adorable girls...being adorable. This was supposed to be Charlies Angel-esque. But I don't think Gracie and Mia got the memo


Then it came to the part in the song where we are invited/directed to "Paint the Town". It was 11:00pm. It was suggested that we go downtown. With paintbrushes. And rollers. And a plethora of tired children. What an excellent idea.

The grown ups all thought it was hil-ar-ious. Most of the kids weren't quite as thrilled. Finny dropped Aaron's sunglasses, and on his way back up from picking them up, bashed Gracie in the mouth (THE TEETH! THE TEETH!) causing her to bleed and weep copiously, Gabe was wan and pale, Benj was thinking this probably wasn't the coolest thing to be seen doing, Samuel was enraged by our flagrant disregard for his rep and the fact that we were forcing him to stand outside a bar...where DRUNK PEOPLE MIGHT BE.

At 11:30pm as we walked back to the car, I was quietly ranting to Aaron that I did not know how such un-fun and boring children could have sprung from my loins and it must be his people's genes, it occurred to me that it was indeed 11:30pm after a series of very late nights and it was exceptionally cold. And they are like..5 years old. So...fine. I guess I wont completely write them off as party poopers...yet. Here's the very moving "fill up your cup-MAZELTOV!" scene being shot. Sweeping cinematography. You won't soon forget it.




Upon returning home it was time to make a lot of noise. For the movie. Of course. 'Cos we couldn't be sure that we would capture it all on film in the excitement of the appointed hour. So picture this. Pots and pans being enthusiastically beaten upon by many suddenly re-energized children, and loud music, and cheering, and those blowing things....for a full 20 minutes before midnight. And then again at midnight.

(Very Soberly) Poised For Noise:












At then again at about 12:15 pm when Gracie approached me brandishing a spoon. "Mommy, when are we going to beat on a pole with the spoons?" (This is to pay homage to my South African roots where New Year is traditionally welcomed by the locals by beating on metal poles with spoons). Problem is here it is Winter and snowing. And the poles are not metal but wood. So we improvise. I informed Gracie that what we had just done (ie rushing outside en masse beating on pots and pans) had been in lieu of the pole/fire hydrant/mailbox beating.

She looked so crest-fallen that I rounded up the family, spoons in hand and gave the Richardsons mailbox a right good pounding. It must be quite dented after a few years at our hand. But it's worth it becauseI bet their neighbours loved how festive we were. (I added those fireworks because Benj's face does not look sufficiently celebratory here.)


I must say it was a fun, fun week. And I gotta feeling. That the video is going to be some good video, the video is going to be a funny, funny video. If only we could get it off the video camera and onto the computer for editing. And then onto youtube for viewing. That in itself will be a miracle.

(It turned out we had to order a special cable for this purpose. It should be here in a couple of days. I know you will hardly be able to continue with your life until then. What with the anticipation. I apologise). Oh! Benjamin played us very ably into 2010 with Auld Lang Syne. Very special to actually be able to look over his shoulder at the music and sing the real words this year and not my usual rendition, "If old acquaintances be forgot and never brought to mind..... if lalallalalalal be forget....allalalala.mmmmmm....mmmm..mmmmm....auld lang syne...Auld lang syne my friend...auld lang syne....lalalalalalalalalalaaaaaa lala aulllllld lang syne."




I also added some extra hats here, because I like adding hats to hatless people in photos. (And I'm all about full disclosure)


We did other stuff that night too. Like Wii tournaments. And Boyz trying to be sexy photo-shoots and eating. Competitive eating. Eating like there was no tomorrow. Except sadly there was. And that tomorrow came too soon. And there were leftovers. And they were good.

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