Happy New Year!
We spent the new year in the new Maison Epperson. It was a big change since in the past, we would always book a hotel room and celebrate the holidays ordering room service and clad in fluffy bathrobes or Tom and I would attend the NYE countdown party of the hotel. Sometimes, we would also go to our friend who owns a building on Ayala Avenue and watch the fireworks from their helipad. It was a nice change to welcome the new year at home. It was just like any other day in the house only with sparklers and a torotot.
The Epperson’s blackboard art for NYE by Tom and Aryanna
Oh, it was also the first time that we took down our Christmas tree before New Year. I just felt that I wanted the house to be fresh and uncluttered. I replaced our Christmas tree with a center table and arranged a vignette of fresh flowers, fruits and other fun knick-knacks.
I went to Dangwa flower market and bought some amazing greens, flowers and berries. I made three different arrangements for the foyer, the center table near the staircase and the dining area.
Our foyer is still incomplete. I’m contemplating on whether to put a mirror, artwork or an enormous ceramic plate between the vintage brass and crystals scones. What are your thoughts on this? For now, I’m leaving it bare. I placed an old credenza table we’ve had for years to hold mail and the monochromatic floral arrangement in a champagne cooler with stand.
Dylan: “I love these flowers, Mom! Take a picture of me!”
My favorite floral and fruit arrangement is the one in the dining area. I found baby pineapples, berries and lovely Everlasting flowers! It took time to make it but my husband loved the rustic centerpiece.
We always have 13 different fruits in our dining table for abundance and luck!
NYE dinner set-up: Everything round and colorful for luck!
For New Year’s Eve dinner, we follow my late grandparents’ tradition of cooking something red, some noodles, serving sweet ham and sweet desserts as they symbolize luck, abundance and a long, healthy life. For our dinner menu, I was pretty proud that I thought of making Spaghetti and Meatballs. Since it is red, with noodles and the pork and beef meatballs are round; it’s like hitting three birds with one stone! Or in this case, one big meatball! LOL
There’s no messing with our meatballs—they are big, moist and flavorful! Mmm…
We also had store-bought sweet honey ham (my favorite!!!), crispy dinner rolls (heat them using the Airfryer. It’s life-changing!) with garlic butter and Funfetti cookies that Aryanna baked. Soooo gooood!
Our New Year’s countdown was fun. Before midnight, we woke Dylan up and finally gave him his torotot (we’ve kept it from him as long as we could as we didn’t want him to blow out our eardrums before the new year, haha!).
Aryanna and I bought sparklers and some auspicious fountain sparklers for prosperity and happiness. I also prepared a bowl with grapes for everyone to partake at the stroke of midnight for prosperity.
Happy New Year from the Epperson’s!
Winner fireworks from the neighbors! However, the firecracker spectacle fizzled quickly in the city. We all went to bed after ringing in the new year.
Good morning 2015!
New Year’s brunch is still about red and round food.
One of my favorite plato-platuhan sets at home is the Marimekko’s Siirtolapuutarha plates I bought in Guam. I could only hand-carry six pieces and wish I got their Räsymatto dinnerware by designer Maija Louekari as well. Sigh. Maybe it’s time to plan a trip back to Guam!
Aryanna bought a new board game called The Game of Life Fame Edition as a joke. According to her, since she is now an MTV VJ, she needs to learn the how to live the life of a star. LOL! It’s actually a fun, short game. We love it! Even our 4-year old son Dylan was able to play with us.
Tip: Read the rules before playing.
How to play:
• The Game of Life Fame Edition lets you play as a supermodel, pop singer or various other celebrity careers
• Build an entourage in your limo to get money, fame and VIP access
• Collect a salary and live the life of a star
• You’ll have to sing, dance or rap depending on the Action Cards you draw
• Collect 5 Star Cards to win
We played the entire holiday vacation. It’s good for all ages and great fun turning sections (you flip portions of the board throughout) of the board. Most of all, we loved the bonding time.
Now, time to get back to the real game of life! Looking forward to an exciting year and remember, be your own star!
Shoppingero/shoppingera, what New Year traditions do you follow?
Comments 1
Bae-con. I want now.