New Year's Eve Fun

Party People

After our Christmas cruise and all of our holiday gatherings, we saw the end of the old year and welcomed in the new one with our traditional gathering at the Riedels’ home. While we were there, we took our traditional group photo as well, partly because we had not taken one earlier in the day when we had our Christmas gathering together at our house. Oops. Good thing we had another shot at it, right?

So here we all are in the middle of our party fun, which included eating food and watching football. What more could you ask for on a New Year’s Eve? And let’s not even talk about how the kids are as tall as the adults now, because I don’t know how that happened. Must be a camera trick or something.

Fun Photos

Actually, we did not see in the new year. Jaylin and Katie had a church party to go to that started at 9:00, so Laura and I left in time to take them there, and then we headed for home. I don’t know about the rest of the Riedels, but we were in bed long before midnight.

Even though we are not the stay up late kind of party people, we do still have fun.

Laura was leaned back on the couch watching football after we ate, and I thought it was a perfect photo opportunity. Maybe a little bit of an odd angle for a photo, but I like it.

The Riedels’ dog Zoey was giving me a look. The look was probably her way of saying, “Why don’t you give me some of the food that you guys have been eating?” But I took the look to be her way of saying, “Why don’t you take my picture?” So that is what I did.

We also decided to get the kids together for a separate photo without us adult types. And Jaylin picked up Zoey to be in the photo, too. Earlier in the day, we were looking back at photos from past trips when these kids were really young. It does not seem like that long ago, either.

Happy New Year!

Sometime a few years ago, we realized that the new year will come whether or not we actually stay up to see it. That made for a safer drive home with having to fight so hard to stay awake. And that made for a more pleasant New Year’s Day, because we are not still fighting to stay awake.

So for the new year, Laura and I enjoyed a nice, quiet day at home, while Jaylin stayed with his grandparents after the all-night church activity. We watched the Rose Parade until their coverage ended, thanks to a broken-down float. We watched a football game. We watched a Miami Vice episode. And we just enjoyed one more day of being home before having to go back to work the next day. It was a good way to welcome in the new year, even if we did not see the first few moments of 2019.

I have no idea what 2019 holds for you. I don’t even have an idea of what 2019 holds for us. All we can do is make the most of whatever God chooses to send our way.

Here’s hoping that 2019 is full of blessings for all of us!

Bible Verse

Youths may faint and grow weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint. - Isaiah 40:30-31

About the Photos

For the group photo of us all, I used an external flash on the camera to make sure we had enough light. This did cause a glare on the television screen at the right of the photo, but I was able to work on that so that it is hopefully not noticeable.

For the rest of the photos, I used the available light in the room and a prime lens with the aperture open wide. This gave the cool depth of field in those photos, particularly on the one of Zoey, which is exactly what I was going for.

Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Photoshop. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II
Lens: Sony FE 50mm f/1.8 Lens
Date: December 31, 2018
Location: Bartlett, Tennessee