Flashback Friday

My friend/faithful reader/coworker SH and I were chatting the other day about New Year's Eve, and how it's just not fun anymore. People that don't drink are afraid to be out on the roads because of the drunk drivers, so most people I know just stay home.  My friend mentioned about the New Year's Eve parties that we would have here at The Compound and how much fun they were.  They would probably be lame by most's standards but we had a blast, year after year. 

There was always lots of good food - Rosie next door would always bring a big Crock pot of cheese dip (even before cheese dip was in style), and everybody that came would bring something.  We would always have the little party buns with our leftover Christmas ham, and Mom would always make a few gallons of her famous orange sherbet punch.  Rosie's husband Clarence would drink about a gallon of it by hisself, just saying.  

We would always play cool old school board games before and after the eating, to keep us occupied until midnight.  At most parties, Dad and I and anyone that brought musical instruments would play and everybody would sing.  

A few minutes before midnight, anyone that was brave enough would get bundled up and head outside and we'd get the fireworks ready to set off at midnight.  People would bring their guns and we'd shoot them at the stroke of midnight while someone would be up at the Jones's ringing their big dinner bell.  

One New Years Eve in particular stands out.  I can't remember the year, but after we shot the guns and rang the bell and shot off the fireworks, my friend SH and I went up the street to the 'hood Catholic church and crashed their New Year's Eve party.  An old family friend and her band was playing at the party and I wanted to say hi so we just crashed it.  We walked right in the door at about 12:30 like we'd been there all night long partying.  While at the party, we spotted a few old friends and some coworkers and we just morphed right into the party.  People were offering us food and drink, but we turned them down because we were full of cheese dip and orange sherbet punch.