Our Millennium Madness Party
Our celebration included having a friend of Joe’s stay overnight. He and Joe went sledding on Sunday afternoon. When I got home from work at 7 p.m., we ate frozen pizza for dinner (something easy and fun for the kids). Of course, we had the New Year plates, cups and napkins with “2001” and stars all over them. We drank sparkling apple and grape juices and ate a “Millennium Madness Mix” consisting of six different snack foods all dumped together. We watched Home Alone 3 on video, which was a lot of fun. By now, it was about 11:30. I turned on the shortwave radio, preparing to set my watch to the exact time so we would know precisely when the new year began. I didn’t have to; it was already right to the second!
Now came the climax: at five minutes before midnight, the four of us bundled up and went outside with a digital camera, a lighter and two Fourth of July fountains saved back from last year. Wendi waited until less than a minute remained of the old year, then lit the first fountain. Shooting sparks lit up the night air (I took pictures of both fountains). In the distance, someone else set off some firecrackers at 22 seconds before midnight, adding to the excitement. At 8 seconds before midnight, the fountain died out. Wendi quickly tried to light the other one as we counted down the seconds.