I can’t tell you the last time we went out to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Years ago, we’d spend the evening with other couples who had young children. Recently, we’ve helped Zorro’s caterer brother at a couple ritzy parties, but only when he was as desperate for help as we were for a little extra pocket money. This year, though, we were invited to two different bashes. One of them was a private party at a cozy, neighborhood bar. The other was dinner at the home of a good friend. Either would have been pleasant. We declined both.

This New Year’s Eve, we relaxed. We saw a movie in the afternoon (“Charlie Wilson’s War”–great dialogue, but short on substance), we did a brief grocery store visit, we made a couple appetizers.

Then we played cribbage.

For those of you unfamiliar with the game, cribbage is played with a regular deck of cards. In addition, you have a wooden board with tiny pegs and you peg your way up and down the “streets” of the board based on how many points you get. Simply put, the object of the game is to make card combinations that total up to 15. Of course, it’s not as easy as just that. There are points for flushes, points for runs, points for pairs, etc. Because each player starts with only four cards, the hands are quick.

As usual, Zorro defeated me.

Honestly, I didn’t mind. Because, you see, playing cribbage always reminds me of my dad. Dad was a Marine in WWII. He served in the Pacific (and won a Silver Star there, but that’s another story). As a kid, one of the things I remember seeing around the house was a cribbage board. It was mysterious and thus, interesting. I never remember my dad playing. At least not until about 30 years later when friends he’d met in New Zealand during the war visited. Apparently, that’s where he’d learned cribbage and they all started playing again. That’s when Dad taught me to play.

Like I said, it’s a pretty simple game. Unless, of course, you are as math challenged as I am. Or playing with someone with a lightning quick mind like my dad. Time and time again, I’d beg him to count slower, to show me the cards and carefully explain where all those 15s had come from. He always cooperated.

And he always defeated me, too.

I like cribbage. And I especially enjoyed playing it this New Year’s Eve. There’s nothing like heading into the future and taking along a little bit of your past.