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"One of the things I&amp;#039;m most grateful to my daughter for is the excuse to stay in on New Year&amp;#039;s Eve.  Since my idea of the perfect evening is to eat a gigantic meal and fall asleep early, I&amp;#039;ve never been a big fan of the holiday. Not that I haven&amp;#039;t had my share of midnight madness. I&amp;#039;ve been to plenty of all-night parties, watched the ball drop in Times Square and had romantic getaways to B&amp;amp;amp;Bs. But all that pressure to go out and have the best night of the year is overwhelming\u2014especially when you&amp;#039;re dealing with crowds, price gouging and the all-around bad behavior.  That night in Times Square? Well, my friend and I waited around for hours about 15 blocks away from the actual event, freezing our butts off and trying to avoid being vomited on by other revelers. (OK, even a party pooper like me has to admit that the whole Times Square deal is worth doing once\u2014freezing aside, with the fireworks and confetti, there&amp;#039;s a contagious excitement and a heart-warming cheery goodwill among strangers, even if they are a tad obnoxious.) The last time I went out on New Year&amp;#039;s Eve, I was just barely pregnant\u2014in that period of time where none of your regular clothes fit but you&amp;#039;re still pre-maternity wear. I spent about three hours trying to find something that would fit and wouldn&amp;#039;t reveal my growing bump. And it didn&amp;#039;t even work\u2014my fertility status was painfully obvious to all the other partygoers, even if they were polite enough not to mention it.  Needless to say, I was beyond happy to say goodbye to the what-to-wear-crisis forever and sit at home in my pj&amp;#039;s and slippers this year. I was warm and comfortable\u2014at last!\u2014as we watched Dick Clark&amp;#039;s Rockin&amp;#039; New Year&amp;#039;s Eve. And honestly, looking back at 2006, just about every day with my toddler was the best ever\u2014watching her grow and learn and laugh, each day brought some new wonder. So at midnight, there was no pressure to make some wonderful memories I already have them. I toasted my husband at 12:00 and at 12:01, I was asleep. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/life/a40527/my-definition-of-a-rockina-new-yearas-eve-is-at-homea-6977/>