Mini NYE recap

This year we celebrated New Year's Eve with D's family, so it was a night full of my favorite thing: champagne-fueled, animated conversations in a foreign language!

Here are six photos from that night-

Go early in the day, they said. Don't get stuck in New Year's Eve traffic. Good advice, but we failed to take it!

On the other hand, it meant lots of time for listening to music...

...and some nice views!

Upon arriving, this bottle of Soviet champagne was waiting on the table for us, the exact same brand that would be on the table every year in Ukraine. I don't know about the price here, but there it was a cheap-yet-decent drink, supposedly locally produced.

The traditional salad was made by D's brother-in-law. It goes by the delicious-sounding title of Herring under а Fur Coat (селедка под шубой) and has never won either of us over. This smoked salmon version sounds pretty good though!

Meanwhile, this olivier salad is D's favorite dish on the planet, but only when made by his mom.

Midnight arrived when some of the family were still at church. Those of us at the table opened a bottle and toasted anyways so as to not lose the minute and then began Ирония судьбы, или С легким паром, The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Steam Bath! (Watch online with English subs.)

I always thought that was a somewhat awkward name for a movie but that hasn't stopped it from claiming the title of Supreme Uncontested New Year's Eve Movie Of All Time in parts of the world. In fact, certain people have seen it so many times that they refuse to watch it yet again (ahem, D). Maybe someday I'll be one of those people, but this first time we only made it through 1/2 the film : )

In Ukraine people always said that the way you ring in New Years sets the tone for the rest of the year. Do you think this is true? If so, how will your 2015 look?