New Year's Resolutions: I've decided only to make one resolution a year. My resolution for 2000 is to write and mail one letter a week to a friend or family member. I have become a terrible correspondent in the past few years, and I want to rectify that.

Not A Great Start

Up until midnight, our New Year's Eve was pretty much what I'd expected. It was not until well after midnight that the fireworks started here.

I had spent part of yesterday afternoon preparing my PC for Y2K. Nothing like waiting till the last minute, huh? I wasn't too worried because I knew my machine's BIOS was Y2K compliant, so I simply had to address the matter of software. Say what you will about Microsoft--and I can tell Bill Gates jokes with the best of them--but I found the Y2K section of their website informative and helpful. I learned I needed to download a fix to Windows 95 and two service releases for Microsoft Office. Unfortunately, I couldn't get connected at faster than 28.8, so the downloading took several hours total. Nevertheless, everything went smoothly, and I was finished with six hours to spare.

Tab's mother, Stephanie, showed up around 6:30 after evening Mass. I'd invited her to spend the night so she wouldn't have to drive the twenty-five miles to back Lambertville after midnight. She brought in her bags and settled down in front of the TV to watch some of the footage of New Year's Eve celebrations from around the world.

We put Stephen and Matthew to bed at their usual time. There was some griping on their part ("Why does Daniel get to stay up till midnight? Not fair!"), but they settled down quickly. Along with Daniel, we watched the videos we'd rented: Everest, which was good but would be much better in an IMAX theater, and October Sky, which was excellent.

At 11:50 p.m., we stopped October Sky and turned on the New Year's Eve celebration with Dick Clark in Times Square. I looked around the room and realized we didn't even have noisemakers or silly hats. "We are really pathetic," I said.

Then we debated about whether or not to wake up the twins.

"They're too young; they really don't know what it's about."

"Yeah, but years from now, it would be cool for them to say that they saw in the year 2000."

Finally, with less than three minutes to midnight, I said, "Let's get 'em." Tab and I raced upstairs to pluck the sleepy boys out of their beds and hauled them downstairs where they blinked confusedly at us, wondering what the heck we were doing.

Midnight came, we kissed and hugged, we put the twins back in their beds, and we resumed the movie. When it was over at about 12:30, Tab said something about setting up the sleeping bag on Daniel's floor so that Stephanie could sleep in his bed.

She was acting rather distant and odd--not uncommon for my mother-in-law--and announced that she would go home instead. Tab was annoyed and pressed her to tell us why she was leaving. Finally, she answered, "Your wife doesn't want me here!"

News to me, since I'd been the one to invite her. I'm still not sure what set her off last night. Stephanie is one of the most insecure people I know, and she always assumes the worst.

Tab did not take it well. He ended up screaming at her, a mistake given the fact that he is still coughing and his voice has not yet recovered from his recent illness. Stephanie drove off in a huff, leaving the scattered pieces of another shattered holiday behind her. Tab remained wrought up about the situation and didn't come to bed until well after 2.

A wonderful way to start a new year, I thought. There's a superstition that New Year's Day sets the tone for the rest of the year. Thank heavens today is not the start of the new century or millennium!

Tab was in a grouchy mood all day today, fallout from last night's debacle coupled with the other issues I mentioned yesterday. It wasn't until late afternoon that he finally cheered up enough to propose a trip to see Christmas lights after dinner.

There is a house in nearby Hamilton that has become a destination for us every year. These people have lights covering practically every inch of their house, fences, and trees. They have their back yard set up as a walk-thru display with cardboard cutouts of Disney figures and dozens of plastic children's playhouses, each of which houses a tableau of motorized elves, singing Christmas trees, or dancing Santas. It's stupendously tacky and kitschy as all get out, and we love it.

So New Years Day ended better than it began. Perhaps that will be the omen for the year. I would be happy to think that we will end this year in a better situation than we began it.

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