Washington Life pieced together some of those stories-- from simple evenings at home to lavish worldwideadventures-that some prominent Washingtonians will likely recount for years to come:

Stefanie Berry says the family was secure in the belief that the Y2K bug wouldn’t take a bite outof their festivities. “We had enough wine, we had enough champagne. It was like if we got stranded, we’dbe okay right where we were.”

For Michelle and Lamont DuPont, concern over flying led them to trade their trip toMorocco’s San Maritz for a quiet family night at home with their 1-year-old daughter. As the clock struckmidnight, they cracked a bottle of Dom Perignon and all three jumped up and down on the bed to welcome inthe new millennium. And as the family settled down to sleep, they had a perfect view of the Washingtonfireworks from their bedroom window in Georgetown.

Phil and Nina Pillsbury were also concerned about flying, so they left early for arelative's home in Liechtenstein, a principality tucked between Switzerland and Austria, and returnedfive days after the New Year. The Pillsburys were joined by daughter Caroline, her husband Andrew Oliver,and his family, and went skiing at Switzerland’s renowned Cloisters.

The Honorable and Mrs. Najeeb Halaby also settled themselves in for a relaxing night athome by the fire with a bottle of champagne.

Fred and Marlene Malek spent the holidays at their vacation home in Aspen. Part of theirfestivities included attending a buffet dinner wherein each guest brought along something to bury in aspecial millennium time capsule. (The Maleks buried pictures of their family as well as news clippings ofcurrent events.)

Carol and Climis Lascaris hosted a small dinner party with their dear friends, Judy and Ahmad Esfandiary, Marsha and Frank Carlucci, and the founders of the National Museum ofWomen in the Arts, Billy and Wilhelmina Holladay. After a catered dinner of champagne andlobster, the group tuned in to the televised world celebrations. The night came to a final crescendo whenthe Esfandiarys arrived back at their Watergate home by 12:30 to the sights and sounds of the Washingtonfireworks display.

Rosemarie Bogley welcomed almost two dozen friends for a black-tie dinner and festivities at herpre-Civil War home, Peace & Plenty, at Bollingbrook Farm in Middleburg. The group watched world NewYear’s events on Bogley’s wide-screen TV and some guests stayed the night, including Mary AnnLundgren and her husband, who were concerned about flying and kept to activities within drivingdistance during the holiday.

For years, Paul Nitze and Leezee Porter have surrounded themselves with the same smallgroup of friends they usually meet with to ring in the new year.

Hosted at Urick Martin and Kathleen Newland's Georgetown home, Kathleen under-took thecooking responsibilities, producing a gourmet dinner for the group. “I think something should be said forwhat we did which was that we had great food that Kathleen cooked, wonderful champagne and wine, and agreat, quiet time. If you want to make it more interesting, you can say that we had an armored car pickus up and drive us the nine blocks to the party, and that our hosts met us at the front door with machineguns,” Leezee laughs. She notes more seriously that the millennium celebration was a special one for93-year-old Paul: “It was particularly important to Paul to turn the page into the new century, becausehe has lived all but seven years of the 1900s.”

Chris Murray of Govinda Gallery clearly had one of the more exotic holidays on record when hetraveled halfway around the world for a five-week stay in India which included New Year's Eve in the LakePalace Hotel, where the 1983 James Bond movie Octopussy was filmed. “It was at once chic, romantic, andspiritual,” according to Chris who, prior to his journey to Southeast Asia, “kicked off the season byattending Tommy Hilfiger's Rock-Star Party at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”

While the paparazzi may not have gotten any photos, it is a safe bet that Tony Rodham, thePresident’s brother-in-law, and his lovely wife Nicole Boxer, who is Senator BarbaraBoxer's daughter “sat on the beach for two weeks” in picture perfect Kona Village, Hawaii. An annualretreat for them, Hawaii must have a powerful allure, since they were willing to forgo the MillenniumCelebration on the Mall and the party thereafter at the White House to be there.

Margaret Gardner, wife of tech-mogul and blueblood David Gardner, offers that she and heryoung family had “a chaotic but wonderful Christmas…”as a result of moving from Old Town, Alexandria totheir new home in Fairfax County just two weeks before the holidays.

Because I have to work here and she's there, it was just nice to spend time together,” says the Honorable Pierre Salinger, who spent Christmas and New Year's in Southern France with his wife Nicole at her Bed and Breakfast, La Bastide Rose, in Le Thor.

“I went on what I like to call the spouse program.”— Jamie Rubin, State Department Spokesman onhow he came to spend New Year's Eve with the Queen of England at the Millennium Dome celebrationin London where his wife Christiane Amanpour covered the festivities for CNN.

We want everyday to be Christmas,” opined Mrs. William Bennet (Mary) on the joys of “spendingtime with family and extended family” here, and in New York, and on Bald Head Island, North Carolina,where the family played basketball, Monopoly, and poker. “We had lots of holiday food, and lots of goodfun and activities.”

For the Honorable Esther Coopersmith, it was time of rejoicing over the arrival of her firstgranddaughter whom she visited in Texas after spending New Year’s being appropriately pampered at RanchoLa Puerta, the highly-acclaimed health resort and spa in Tecate, Mexico.

Mrs. Noah Bilbray-Kohn (Erin) was another of the lucky ones who attended the New Year's WhiteHouse party. “The whole thing was really neat and really surreal,” she says of the event during which Mary Wilson, formerly of the Supremes, kept dancing into focus in her camera's viewfinder; herhusband Dr. Bilbray-Kohn took off with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for a privatetour of the White House china room, courtesy of Mrs. Chuck Robb; and Slash, of Guns &Roses, hobnobbed with the President. Ultimately, the Bilbray-Kohns who donned formal attire and “skiears” for warmth found themselves dancing in the Rose Garden at 5:00 a.m.

Roger Mody, IT tycoon and President of Signal Corporation, admits that his holidays were “not asexciting as some would imagine.” He spent Christmas Eve with his three children and “woke up to mounds oftoys,” while on New Year's Eve, he “stayed at the house with a friend.”

Mrs. Vernon Jordan (Ann) had all her children and grandchildren home for the holidays for what wasa “very busy and wonderful” visit.

Holidae Hayes, who also attended the White House party, said “The atmosphere was electric!”Inaddition to dining at the White House, Holidae engaged in a flurry of activities which had her skiing inAspen before jetting off to sun in St. Barts. “It was a packing challenge, but I did absolutelyeverything that captured my imagination!”

Mrs. Mack McLarty (Donna) reported that “all of our family gathered for an old-fashioned holidayand welcomed in the millennium together with festivities and champagne under the stars.” The venue wasthe recently renovated childhood home of her husband in Hope, Arkansas, “a place which the McLartys haveloved and enjoyed for five generations.

Castro had decided it isn’t the millennium 'til next year,” remarked Chris Hitchens of VanityFair on the lack of fanfare he observed while at the Hotel Nacional in Havana on New Year's Eve. Thedate marked the forty-first anniversary of the Cuban revolution and the overthrow of the Batista regime.

We had joy on both ends!” —Mrs. Togo West, Jr. (Gail) explaining that the holidays werehighlighted by the birth of their first grandchild just before Christmas, and for New Year's Eve by theWhite House Millennium Celebration.

Yet another gentleman content to have “a very uneventful New Year's” was David Corn of TheNation, for whom the previous twelve-month period was one of non-stop excitement which includedmarriage, the birth of a baby daughter, and the publication of his novel Deep Background. Consequently, staying at home and taking it easy was paradise.