Photos for New Year's

We had great plans for New Year's Eve this year; my son had a date with his grandparents, and we had a date with each other. But it turned out we were double booked, and my husband also had a date with the flu.

So we ended up at home, eating chicken noodle soup I'd scrounged up using pantry staples while my husband glumly apologized for ruining the night we'd looked forward to, as if it were even remotely his fault.

To beat the gloom, I started what I hope will be a New Year's Eve tradition. If Greg was double booked, so was I; only I had a date with Picasa. In about an hour, I frantically scrolled through all of our photos from 2010, starring the highlights and placing them all in a web album. By the time dinner was ready, we had a hastily assembled slideshow recapping our year.

It wasn't a night out, but curling up on the couch and watching the year go by in photos felt fitting.

My only regret was wishing I hadn't just seen them all while I assembled the slideshow. I had already experienced my nostalgic amusement putting it together, and I had more fun watching Greg's reactions to the photos than the show itself.

So this year, I already have a folder labeled "New Year's Eve Slideshow, 2011". Every time I transfer photos to my computer, I choose a few highlights and slide a copy into my slideshow folder. Now when New Year's hits, I can just play the slideshow, sit back, and enjoy them. Maybe we'll even go out after :)

And as much fun as the slideshow will be this year, how much better will it be in five, ten, or twenty, when I have a selection of the top 200 or so photos from every year? In a few clicks, our thirteen year old could review the year he was born, or watch himself go from two years old to three - without sorting through thousands of photos.


Memorable photo from 2010 - Nemo at the Westin