Happy New Year's Eve!

As I spent much of my life far from home on New Year's Eve, it never was a favourite holiday of mine. Today I was thinking once again about the wonderful way that free games on Facebook like Farmville and Fantasy Kingdoms allow people who otherwise may not have enjoyed the holidays because of their situations can interact with others and enter into the festive mood of the season wherever they may be.

In Farmville, players are celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas with a special item every day to be shared with friends and neighbours. Other activities for the New Year's celebration include a New Year's Eve celebration, complete with a ball that drops at midnight, in a special Party Barn (on the farm, of course) and building a Snowman.

Fantasy Kingdoms has released a new Spell to create special fireworks for the New Year. Gorgeous Winter Solstice and Christmas decorations have been released throughout the holiday season.

In both games, there are special fantasy crops to be grown. Pointsettias, White Pointsettias and Balloons can be grown in Farmville. Holiday Candy and Ornaments can be grown in Fantasy Kingdoms.

Our own family tradition through the years has included Christmas and New Year episodes of various comedies. I uploaded a few clips from my absolute favourite, 'Mother and Son', last year. This year, I thought of sharing Mr. Bean and Absolutely Fabulous... To my delight, I discovered that some one else has done the work of uploading them to YouTube.

Although I posted the clips from 'Mother and Son' last year, the show still deserves first place here:



Here are a couple of our favourite New Year's Eve episodes:

Do It Yourself, Mr. Bean:





Absolutely Fabulous, New Year's Eve:







Only Fools and Horses released a Christmas special every year for decades, I think, and many of them are posted on YouTube. Vicar of Dibley and Father Ted have hilarious holiday episodes as well.

From Vicar of Dibley:











Even if you plan to attend a New Year's Eve party somewhere, these marvelous comedies should make the evening more festive.