And THAT'S How I Know I am Getting Old.

I can think of the days in our dating life, or perhaps when we were newlyweds, and even when we were married but did not yet have our children, when we saw New Year's Eve as an opportunity to stay out late, live it up, and ring in the new year in some ridiculous manner.

But not this year, even though we had the best of intentions to party the night away.

My mom kept our children for us, hosting her first ever Grandma's New Year's Eve Bash. She had given us gracious permission to stay out as late as we wanted. Now that's a deal.

We had the makings of a great date. We wanted to do dinner, a movie, then Starbucks, and we had toyed with going downtown to see the fireworks. It was going to be a night to remember.

We decided to start the evening early, and we dropped the kids off at 4:30. We headed to The Cheesecake Factory, one of our blissful favorites. We shared an appetizer (I highly recommend the Factory Nachos), we each ordered our favorite meals, and then we shared a slice of White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle, because you simply cannot leave without a piece of their creamy decadence.

We had some great conversations over dinner, talking about the highlights of 2007 and setting our goals for 2008. I made a list, because this is what I do.

As we left, we talked about what to do next, from our veritable options. We voted against the movie, since it's just stinkin' hard to justify dropping as much money as the movie theaters are asking these days. We decided not to go downtown, since it was about 4 degrees outside, and that's just a miserable experience, no matter how you slice it. There are not warm enough mittens this side of the arctic to keep my hands toasty enough so my attitude doesn't freeze up.

That left us with Starbucks. We had a bag full of games (because we planned ahead, not because we happen to carry them with us for just the right moment), and we were ready for some good competition over some whipped mochas. Game on.

Except Starbucks was closed. After all, it was New Year's Eve. Turns out, there's not much demand for mochas past 7:00 on a holiday, I guess. Except that we really wanted them.

That disappointment officially took us to the end of our list. Now what?

Ultimately, we decided to go pick up the kids, put them to bed at home, and watch a rented movie in the comfort of our jammies.

That means that our last date of 2007 consisted of an early bird dinner at 4:45, and then we were back home and settled in by 8:15. Yep. That's one New Year's Rockin' Eve.

But it was fun, and it was our fun, and when you're with the one you love, sometimes the best place to be is somewhere quiet, warm, and cozy.

And there you have it. Happy New Year.