As you can see by my post about New Years Eve on January 11th 14th, I’m really ahead of the game this year and quickly striving towards big success when it comes to resolutions like writing more. I actually don’t make resolutions, phew! I do however hope most of my readers share the sarcasm sense of humor I simply can’t deny myself! So it’s 2016 and again we’re asking the question “where has time gone?” I’ve come to realize this passing of time (that truly feels faster each year) is a concept we will never be able to quite grasp. When you’re young, parents and grandparents will tell you it goes faster as you get older and this sounds silly and impossible, but as usual they were exactly right. I don’t know the science behind it, but time is already flying by at what now feels like lightning speed (except during working hours, thank goodness) and I’m not even 30 yet. And when I turn 30 five minutes from now I’ll be thinking ‘remember that time when I wrote about not being 30 yet? 🙂 So maybe traveling back in time a bit is a good thing. Let’s say December 31, 2015…

I’m going to ramble a little bit about my awesome family again, but I’m also including a divine recipe for Chocolate Caramel fondue at the end! Indulging in chocolate fondue has become a New Years Eve tradition for us; it’s extremely easy to make and just plain fun to eat together. If you read my New Years post from last year, you won’t be surprised to see Hailey’s plate of chocolate ‘dipped’ goodies was again completely chocolate covered. I can’t say I blame her though; it’s that delicious! She probably even licked the chocolate off her plate which is something I cannot discipline her for, because as a child I use to lick plates clean after finishing a slice of my Grandma’s pie. I think of this every time I see Hailey lick her plate and although I now see what my Mother once saw, I bite my tongue and smile.

   

One of our favorite combinations is a marshmallow dipped in chocolate and then in crushed graham crackers for a fondue version of s’mores! Yum! Our other traditional treat is mock champagne. Hailey loves having this drink and we let her enjoy a glass with dinner as well this year instead of saving it for Midnight. Okay, actually, by Eleven I had to tell her she couldn’t have any more if she wanted some to toast with at Midnight! It’s always fun to have a festive, bubbly drink and it’s a great way for kids (or anyone who doesn’t drink) to join in the celebration! I’m glad we included those two traditions in our evening, because the rest of the night followed a ‘play it by ear’ theme. My husband prefers his days to go this way and I thought it was fitting after a busy Christmas week. We did still have some balloons, because Hailey insisted on popping them again this year. Rather than by the hour, we popped them at Midnight in place of noise makers. And they were orange balloons…from Halloween. We bloggers aren’t perfect and on point all the time 🙂

We also had a brand new projector which made movie watching and gaming extra fun that evening! I must note it looks significantly better in person than captured by a camera with a flash! On New Years Day we moved the couches around in our living room and pointed the projector to the wall for an extra fun family movie night! Hailey thought it was amazing and I must say it was the best at-home movie experience I’ve had even though we encountered a very large, scary cat passing through a time or two; in other words, Mosby walking in front of the projector provided good laughs. We were watching Star Wars, because Hailey and I had not seen them before and we wanted to see the new one in theaters together – if you haven’t seen The Force Awakens yet, go see it! I’ll be honest and tell you I didn’t care much for the older movies, but thoroughly enjoyed the new one! We saw it in RealD-3D and loved it!

So our New Years Eve was filled with unforgettable family time, tasty treats and drinks, movies, video games, card games and a toast to the new year. If you’re wondering when we got around to the card games, that would be around 12:10 AM when Allen and I were ready for bed and Hailey was ready to keep playing. Too much sugar? We sleepily agreed to a half hour of fun playing cards before heading to bed! It was another great New Years Eve and a perfect end to another year filled with blessings, both obvious and in disguise. I hope all of you had a great celebration as well and have had a wonderful start to a beautiful new year! Are you ready for some fondue? 🙂

Chocolate Caramel Fondue

Ingredients:

• 16 ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
• 1 cup Caramel Sauce
• 1/2 cup Milk
• Your choice of dippers (strawberries, bananas, pineapple, apples, graham crackers, marshmallows)

Instructions:

1. Melt chocolate on low heat on the stove top, stirring frequently. (You can also melt chocolate in microwave)
2. Stir in caramel sauce and milk until well blended. Carefully remove from heat and transfer to fondue bowl with lit candle beneath it to keep warm.
3. Use fondue forks, dip your goodies in chocolate and enjoy!

 

As always, thanks for reading!!