{"id":4769,"date":"2012-01-03T19:03:30","date_gmt":"2012-01-04T02:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alannacoca.com\/?p=4769"},"modified":"2014-08-01T02:38:20","modified_gmt":"2014-08-01T08:38:20","slug":"happy-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alannacoca.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/happy-new-year","title":{"rendered":"Happy New Year!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a>Wel\u00adcome to my lit\u00adtle cor\u00adner of the web! For those of you who are new to my site\/blog, I write roman\u00adtic sus\u00adpense, con\u00adtem\u00adpo\u00adrary, and his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal west\u00aderns. My lat\u00adest release is Pre\u00adView<\/a>, a roman\u00adtic sus\u00adpense with a psy\u00adchic flair.<\/p>\n

I took the tree down already, and swept the vir\u00adtu\u00adal pine nee\u00addles away. Now I can focus on 2012!
\nI hope you all had a won\u00adder\u00adful and way to ring in 2012. Me? I went to bed at 8:00pm because I had to work at 5:00 am New Year\u2019s Day. I\u2019m not sure if I\u2019m more both\u00adered by the fact that I missed out on a par\u00adty, or the fact that it did\u00adn\u2019t both\u00ader me to miss a par\u00adty. Get\u00adting old is hell, folks.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Now for my New Year\u2019s memory:<\/p>\n

I come from a big Irish fam\u00adi\u00adly. Both of my par\u00adents came from big Irish fam\u00adi\u00adlies as well, so that makes my big fam\u00adi\u00adly even big\u00adger. I loved it.<\/p>\n

Every New Year\u2019s Eve, my par\u00adents would pile all sev\u00aden of us kids into our big wood-pan\u00adeled sta\u00adtion wag\u00adon, and head up to my uncle\u2019s house in a lit\u00adtle Wyoming town where every\u00adone knows every\u00adone else. I think we dou\u00adbled the town\u2019s pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion by the time all the aunts, uncles, and cousins filed in.<\/p>\n

Uncle Joe\u2019s house would be filled with the scent of can\u00addy thanks to huge pots on the stove full of \u00c2 home\u00admade salt\u00adwa\u00adter taffy. Then we\u2019d all sit around the table (tables<\/em>, there were dozens of us there) and each pull our own taffy. Now, most taffy gets pulled by machine. This is because you have to pull it when it\u2019s hot. Blis\u00adter\u00ading hot. And it takes a long time and con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00adable fin\u00adger strength to pull the taffy into man\u00adage\u00adable con\u00adsis\u00adten\u00adcy. Need\u00adless to say, we young\u00adsters weren\u2019t the best pullers, but we were by far the best eaters.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s fun. And deli\u00adcious. And it keeps a gag\u00adgle of kids busy for hours. (The recipe for home\u00admade taffy is right here<\/a>, if you\u2019re so inclined.)<\/p>\n

Then we\u2019d wait up til mid\u00adnight and ring in the new year on my uncle\u2019s huge porch, with noise\u00admak\u00aders and pots and spoons.<\/p>\n

The more I think about it, the more I won\u00adder why that lit\u00adtle town kept allow\u00ading us back every year.<\/p>\n

Then Uncle Joe would wake us all up at six in the morn\u00ading with the fol\u00adlow\u00ading song blar\u00ading at top volume:<\/p>\n