Worst New Year's Ever

It was New Year's Eve. We promised Sadie she could stay up to "watch the ball drop." Kris was out cold by 11pm, thanks to NyQuil. Junior had been asleep since about 9 pm. My eyelids were as heavy as a before picture. The ball drops. Sadie and I scream, "Happy New Year!" to each other and give each other a kiss. Minutes later, I turn off the tv and announce that it's bedtime. Outraged, Sadie yells, "What? Where are all the balloons and noiseblowers? I thought we were having a big party!" When I tell her that she should feel lucky that she was allowed to stay up until midnight while most other kids have been in bed for hours, she loudly announces, "This is the worst New Year's EVER!" She says it over and over and over again. Deflated, she finally goes to sleep.

The next night at bedtime, she shows me her diary, a tiny Hello Kitty notebook with the word "diary" written on a sticky note on the cover. She tells me that I can never read her diary, "It's private. It has all my secrets in it." Seconds later, she opens it and offers to read it to me. She points to a drawing of a tall stick figure next to a short stick figure. The tall stick figure has a talk bubble that reads, "Go to bed Sadie!" She then reads me that day's entry: "January 1, 2011. Worst New Year's Ever!"

Guess it can only get better from here. Stay tuned . . .