{"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>Welcome to my little corner of the web! For those of you who are new to my site\/blog, I write romantic suspense, contemporary, and historical westerns. My latest release is PreView<\/a>, a romantic suspense with a psychic flair.<\/p>\n

I took the tree down already, and swept the virtual pine needles away. Now I can focus on 2012!
\nI hope you all had a wonderful 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’s Day. I’m not sure if I’m more bothered by the fact that I missed out on a party, or the fact that it didn’t bother me to miss a party. Getting old is hell, folks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Now for my New Year’s memory:<\/p>\n

I come from a big Irish family. Both of my parents came from big Irish families as well, so that makes my big family even bigger. I loved it.<\/p>\n

Every New Year’s Eve, my parents would pile all seven of us kids into our big wood-paneled station wagon, and head up to my uncle’s house in a little Wyoming town where everyone knows everyone else. I think we doubled the town’s population by the time all the aunts, uncles, and cousins filed in.<\/p>\n

Uncle Joe’s house would be filled with the scent of candy thanks to huge pots on the stove full of \u00c2\u00a0homemade saltwater taffy. Then we’d 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’s hot. Blistering hot. And it takes a long time and considerable finger strength to pull the taffy into manageable consistency. Needless to say, we youngsters weren’t the best pullers, but we were by far the best eaters.<\/p>\n

But it’s fun. And delicious. And it keeps a gaggle of kids busy for hours. (The recipe for homemade taffy is right here<\/a>, if you’re so inclined.)<\/p>\n

Then we’d wait up til midnight and ring in the new year on my uncle’s huge porch, with noisemakers and pots and spoons.<\/p>\n

The more I think about it, the more I wonder why that little town kept allowing us back every year.<\/p>\n

Then Uncle Joe would wake us all up at six in the morning with the following song blaring at top volume:<\/p>\n