DENISON, TX--They celebrated at the stroke of twelve, twelve noon that is. The Texoma Children's Museum in Denison held an early New Years Eve celebration for kids who usually don't stay awake for the traditional midnight celebration.

"Most children don't make it until midnight," Museum Director, Sasha Best, said, "I know none of mine do, so we actually count down at noon and ring in the New Year for them."

Plenty of members were in attendance for the festivities, but Best encouraged everyone from the community to stop by.

"We actually have an open door policy with the homeless shelter. So those kids come over and participate and I know that's really special and a really neat significant thing for them," she said.

She's also noticed as families grow, museum visits turn into an annual tradition.

"What's really exciting for me is to see families who have a new one now, they were here for the first one and there's two children now and before there was only one. So it's kind of an annual event, not just for the museum but for the families which is really special."

New Years Eve is just one of the many activities the museum offers for young kids.

"We've done the Christmas and the Thanksgiving and the Halloween parties," museum member, Katie Palmer, said, "they have great Halloween parties, great Christmas parties, in fact this was the first year that my daughter decided to sit in Santa's lap. She won't do it anywhere else, so we actually got our Christmas card done here this year."

For this mom, she says the noon celebration is a fun alternative to welcome in the New Year with her entire family.

"You know if we could secure a babysitter we would, but it's so hard now that to bring the kids along with us and celebrate this way, it's just as good."