Before any of the festivities can begin, the families all have to get on the same page. Well, at least they try. Melissa calls Teresa, requesting a play date for their kids. Teresa agrees, but is still upset that Melissa left the Giudice Christmas party to go to the Walkile’s. Sigh.

Jacqueline's parents are over, and she tells them about her frustrations with Ashley. Her father goes into Ashley’s room where she’s drawing. He notices her artistic ability, and encourages her to pursue it further. Later, she meets with Lauren to show her some suggestions for her freelance make-up business. Lauren says in her interview that it looked like Ashley just sketched the pictures in her car on the way over, and she's kind of right. Ashley's actually got some talent, and she doesn’t seem to care at all. Also, what happened to that internship she had?

Later, Melissa and her kids are waiting for Teresa to bring the kids over for the play date, and of course she's still at home, trying to find an outfit for Milania to wear. An hour later, the Gorga kids are playing by themselves in the inflatable bouncy castle in the living room. Another hour later, the Gorga kids are still waiting. Finally, they arrive. The kids are all playing together, Melissa and Teresa sip some wine, and Audriana is, once again, playing with a phone. Melissa asks Teresa about Kathy, and Teresa tries to come up with an excuse as to why they are not on good terms. Teresa makes a jab at Rich, and Melissa steers the conversation to Teresa's upcoming cookbook. Melissa then mentions that she's becoming a singer, and Teresa proceeds to shoot her down and tells her that "anybody can be a singer." After Melissa gives her a tour of the basement recording studio, Teresa throws Melissa some backhanded compliments, and the exhausting conversation finally comes to an end.

It’s finally New Year’s Eve, and the ladies are getting facetastic for the big party at the Brownstone. Caroline lets Teresa know that she invited the Walkiles to the party, and Teresa is irritated that she did that. Oh, well, Teresa. This isn’t your party.

When the party begins, Kathy arrives and presents Caroline with a giant gift basket filled with cookies and pastries that she baked herself. Caroline and most of the other ladies are excited for the treats, but Teresa thinks that Kathy only started baking because Teresa has her own cookbook now. Sheesh. Later, Melissa and Teresa start bickering over Kathy about the meaning of “family” and “togetherness” and blah, blah, blah. Caroline is physically stuck in the middle of them, and it’s clear that she is pissed that these two are arguing with minutes left before the new year. As soon as the clock strikes midnight, everyone is hugging each other and love is in the air, and Kathy takes the high road and approaches Teresa to wish her a happy New Year. Teresa smiles and says that they already wished each other on the dance floor. It used to at least be tolerable to watch Teresa bicker about her family problems, but now it’s tiring. Can they please just get along already?

Karen Malmquist is a junior at La Salle University, and the head writer and star of In Other News, a comedy series airing in Philadelphia.