Holiday Time With The Family Tames This Party Animal

Even With New Year’s Eve In Las Vegas On The Horizon, There’s No Place Like Home

The party awaits.

It’s just that now, it will have to wait.

My New Year’s Eve destination is Las Vegas.

The Strip. The bars, the clubs, the casinos. It’s all there waiting on me, like a freshly-made drink sitting on the bar.

But I’m letting the ice in it melt for now. Allowing the drink to get watered down. Pushing it aside for the moment.

It’s Christmas time, and that means I’m not in the bars, I’m in the home of my parents. Seeing my sister and her two sons. Spending time with the family.

It’s something I’m fortunate enough to do for two weeks every December, and even though I’m back in my original hometown of Knoxville, TN, it would be a waste to be checking out the nightlife here (hey, I already know the UT Strip is deserted) instead of being with the family.

To me, the family is the most important thing in life. (Plus, my mom cooks for me! And tomorrow she’s doing the laundry!)

In a few days, we’ll be driving to Siesta Key, FL, a gorgeous inlet just south of Tampa/St. Pete. It has a fun little village and while I’ll stop in the oyster bar and Gilligan’s for a couple of drinks that, too, will primarily be for time spent with the family.

I’ll leave them on New Year’s Eve and fly straight into Vegas. Where the party awaits.

But there’s plenty of time for that, and an entire year of other fun and great party events, festivals and checking out bars, both familiar and new await in 2013. For now, though, that drink on the bar remains untouched.