What? No coin in the Vassilopita???

Last night I had the pleasure of experiencing my first "traditional" New Year's Eve with my in-laws. The last three years we had either lived too far away, or my husband had to work, so we couldn't be here to celebrate with the family.

The family tradition is to have a celebratory evening at my mother-in-law's brother's house, which is a real treat, because Uncle George and Aunt Sophie are delightful people. The dinner was grand, the company was entertaining, and the excitement of the coming New Year was palpable. At the stroke of midnight I had the pleasure of double cheek kissing twenty people, which, quite frankly, can be a bit exhausting, despite the fact that they are all well-loved family members. We had the added bonus of the electricity going out right as the clock struck, so we were all tripping over furniture and one another trying to make sure we kissed everyone. We whiled away the minutes without power by singing songs I don't yet know the words to as my brother-in-law played guitar.

The electricity never came back on, so we had to cut the Vassilopita by candlelight, which added a nice nuance to the festivities. As we all anxiously sifted through our pieces of the bread to see who was lucky enough to have the coin, we began to get an odd feeling that perhaps a coin had not been baked into the bread. Yiayia Louli kept swearing she put the coin in, but its absence was evident as George and Sophie sifted through the crumbled remains. The holiday bread lay there like road-kill, a tangled carcass of crumbs, as we all laughed about the missing coin.

As we made our way home we passed scores of holiday revellers on the way out to the many parties and nightclubs that continued into the night. My poor husband and I had to return home, as he had to get up early this morning to work a 24 hour shift at the hospital. Not that we could have partied all night anyway, I feel pretty sure that my party all night days are over.

Am I ready for 2006? Not bloody likely. But it seems to have arrived anyway, despite my best efforts to stop time. Maybe this is the year I'll actually start feeling like an adult.

Nah.