What happens
On New Year's Eve in Springfield, Jim and Margaret Anderson finally plan to attend a party without their children. Their plans begin to unravel when Kathy's sitter falls through and her grandmother's ill, leaving Kathy to be watched by a visiting young man. Betty, too, tries to cancel her date with Ralph, while Bud fills a box lunch with odd provisions. The household's careful arrangements are thrown into confusion as the family gathers around the kitchen and the evening takes on a different character.
The White Frame House on Maple Street in Springfield, on New Year's Eve.
Characters: Jim Anderson, Margaret Anderson, Betty Anderson, Kathy Anderson, Bud Anderson, Freddy Zollars, Ralph, Mrs. Brophy
Listen for: Whether the Andersons manage to get to the Stevens' party, and how Kathy's sitter, Freddy Zollars, fits into the evening.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.