My Untraditional New Year's Eve Party

I'm pretty sure I was meant to be a sixties housewife, but somebody somewhere messed up and I was born in the nineties. What the crap, guys? I live in a time where I'm not expected to bake, host dinner parties and clean all the time. I'm expected to have a job, go to work, and be independent. I would way rather be home all day, keeping the house clean, making casseroles for dinner, baking plenty, and hosting dinner parties often. Honest to goodness, I was meant to be a sixties housewife.

But with the way life has been going, I haven't been hosting much. The last event I had at my house was in May. Recently, a couple friends of mine were planning a New Year's Eve Bash, so I jumped on the chance to host it. Yes, that meant I would need to do a lot of cleaning, but goshdarn it, I wanted to have people over again.

Until it was time to plan the party, and then I realized I've never even been to a NYE party... I mean, my parents had friends over every year, and I used to go out to a big youth event, but that's it. I've never even been to a bar for NYE.

So I didn't know what to make, what to serve, what to do, or what to have on hand. I felt totally at a loss. I figured it out, and I think it went really great, but I didn't exactly do anything traditional.

Soy Pudding

When I found this soy pudding for just a little bit more money than normal pudding, I was sold. First of all, it says Gluten Free. The normal pudding doesn't, but it doesn't directly contain gluten, so it's a bit of a risk. Second, this stuff is lactose free. Not dairy-free, per se, but lactose is close enough for me. It's not like I have a casein allergy.

I was, admittedly, a little bit skeptical, but I love pudding, so I just dove right in.

Gluten Free Chex Mix

M's dad lives a 16 hour drive from here. I am told only Canadians measure distance with time, but it's the only way I know how. So his dad (and sisters and grandparents) all live South of the border. Which is great, and we've gone to visit them a couple times, both over Christmas. His grandma makes Chex mix every single year for Christmas, and M's dad picked up the habit (and the recipe). I'm not hooked on it, because I've only had it two Christmas's, but M loves it, and misses it around the holidays.

When my family, up here, decided to have a Christmas/Thanksgiving dinner, I had to figure out what to bring. Something gluten-free, without being really obviously gluten-free, and something everyone would enjoy. I thought of Chex mix, for M's sake. I didn't use his dad's recipe, I used a recipe I found online that called for a slow cooker.

Guacamole

Happy thanksgiving! Well, to all you Canadians. Any Americans reading this are probably wondering what on earth we're doing eating Turkey in October. Well guess what. That's when thanksgiving is. So suck it up.

I'll tell you all about my thanksgiving weekend later, but right now I need to tell you about my latest addiction.

Guacamole.

Oh my gosh, you guys. This stuff is amazing.

I was never a fan of squishy green stuff as a kid, so I don't think I had real guacamole until after I was married, and every time I've had it since then, it's a "Oh my gosh this is so freakin' amazing, I need to eat this every day" moment.

So recently, I got a craving for it, and when I looked for it at my grocery store, this is what I found.