3-year-old 'toasts' to the new year with actual toast, sparks new family tradition

ByHeather Newman, Babble KABC logo

Monday, January 9, 2017

This story originally appeared on Babble and is reprinted with permission.

New Year's Eve is known for counting down the minutes 'til midnight, watching the ball drop, and toasting to the new year by clinking together glasses filled with champagne. But one adorable 3-year-old is going viral after taking the idea of "toasting" quite literally - and sparking a new family tradition in the process.

On Jan. 3, Kristin Hall posted an adorable photo of her daughter Madeline to Reddit, in which she's beaming from ear to ear while "toasting" in the new year - with actual toast. The hilarious photo has since received over 2,000 comments.

Hall explained the story behind the funny photo to Babble, saying:

"My husband and I were driving to my parents house for our yearly dinner on New Years Day. After just coming off of Christmas, Madeline was asking us what made the New Year holiday special, so we told her it's to celebrate one year ending and a new one beginning. We told her we all get to toast to the new year and she could even have a special glass for her toast with apple cider. She didn't think much of it so that was that."

Sounds like a pretty standard yet thorough explanation, right? Yet as most parents know, choosing your words wisely when explaining things to your toddler is key. And what happened next has had Madeline's parents - and the entire Internet - giggling for days.

Hall continued:

"When everyone was finishing up dinner, we were saying it was time for dessert. All of a sudden [Madeline] piped up and very excitedly yelled, 'ARE WE GONNA MAKE TOAST NOW?!' Everyone was pretty confused and my husband and I both laughed and said, 'Toast! Like we said we were going to have a toast?' And she said 'YEAH!' We did explain what we meant by toasting, but she was just so excited to actually eat toast that we couldn't let her down."

Thus, a new family tradition was born! Hall happily told us while she and her husband plan to explain to sweet Madeline what a real toast is when she gets older, they will absolutely be continuing this tradition each year. With a smile like that, who could say no to some toast?

"We thought it was so unintentionally clever!" added Hall.

I can't help but agree - I'm all for ringing in the New Year with some carbs. (The 2017 diet starts tomorrow, I swear.)

As you might imagine, going viral has been pretty fun so far. But Hall admits that every day with Madeline is fun.

"Seeing things through the eyes of a 3-year-old really gives us such a fun new perspective into so many things," shared Hall. "[Madeline] really keeps us laughing every day."

That right there basically sums up the beauty of parenting. Kids may drive their parents crazy sometimes - especially on New Year's, when they want to stay up super late and stuff themselves full of sugar - but it's these little moments of sweetness and hilarity that make it all worth it.

Happy 2017, Madeline - we're "toasting" to you.