(December 28th sunset photo by Stephanie Moores, featuring Sam)
If your plans for tonight (which might be soggy) aren’t quite finalized, check the West Seattle Holidays page for our New Year’s Eve list. Local restaurants and lounges are throwing parties galore. So are other venues and groups – even a parade, where you’ll find these deployed:

Those are some of the balloon lanterns made last Sunday at Highland Park Improvement Club, where the neighborhood parade begins at 6:30 pm, followed by the Sage Comet performance in the HPIC parking lot, and the HPIC party at 8 (details here). Want to take a walk? Emerald City Wanderers are launching 2 routes from St. John the Baptist Church between 4 and 7 pm. Beach walk, we mentioned yesterday; Kenyon Hall, Admiral Theater, ArtsWest, Alki UCC and Bridge Park are all unique venues with events tonight – here’s that list again. If you’re thinking of going downtown for the Space Needle fireworks, our partners at the Seattle Times have some info that might interest you. (If you’re watching from West Seattle – join the discussion in the WSB Forums.) And remember some places are closing early – like the West Seattle YMCA (WSB sponsor) and Seattle Public Library branches, all of which are closing at 6 pm tonight.