Happy 2008!

The holidays have come and gone and so has 2007.

A hectic holiday season.

Spent Thanksgiving in NC with my parents. Dad was still pretty under the weather and was having a hard time taking it easy. He had been taking it easy for several weeks already and it was BORING to sit still more. But it was a nice day, good to see aunt Gloria and good to see my dad, who really was doing better just wasn't springing back like the rubberband he would like to be :-)

Then the run-up to Christmas. Hanukkah got short shrift from us this year. I was totally unprepared for it to come so early!

All shopping was done online, starting with 4am the day after Thanksgiving. Yes, there are early bird sales even online and I wanted those cheapo prices. I feel fine about doing it all that way. I rarely paid shipping, we saved on gas money and pollution, I didn't have to fight for parking and items on shelves and I got good prices. Nothing wrong with that, especially because the Disney trip came right when I'm usually doing the bulk of the shopping. This way, I did it latenight or early morning, or whenever I had the time.

Off to Disney! (see below) Back from Disney and to boxes from the Nuwaysers! Christmas is almost here. After lots of begging, I let the kids open some smaller presents early but didn't let that happen until after we got the tree up. It was nice to have gifts to put under it right away.

Pete started his new job on 12/18 and it was strange having him out of the house during the day. It will take some getting used to. He will be working out of the house most days and we've had him working from home for a few years now. One thing will be to clear as many evenings as we can so we can get some time together during the week.

Mom and dad came in the Saturday before Christmas, so we spent a day getting the basement in shape and clearing out more stuff. I've been on a big Freecycle kick and it was nice to hear that my mother noticed a marked decline in the clutter around the house. Wow!

I did get a shock when I got an email Saturday morning telling me they were leaving their house at 6am--yikes! That meant they'd arrive at noon instead of the expected 4pm--that triggered a morning of straightening, vacuuming and barking from me.

Pete and I took advantage of the grandparents/babysitters to do some shopping at brick and mortar stores and to grab dinner together. Then, once wrapping started on Sunday night, I felt like the stacks looked a little light and so we ran out again on Christmas eve morning (we were up at 6am anyway, so why not get it done?) to pick up a few more items.

Christmas eve, we went to UUCA to see Katie in her speaking role as an angel in the church pageant. This is her last year in the pageant, she'll be too old next year. She did a great job and we enjoyed the cookie reception afterwards before heading home to a lamb dinner.

Christmas day came early--Zack woke at 5:15am but we held him off until we woke Katie at 6:30-ish. The early start suited grandma and grandpa because they headed up to NY after breakfast. Santa came :-) (see video below) Grandma and Grandpa left :-(

We lazed around the rest of the day, playing with new toys and trying on new clothes. Then it was off to Mark's Duck House for a Chinese dinner. We were hoping for Dim Sum, but settled on many entrees instead. The duck was great.

A deep breath and a return-trip visit from Grandma and Grandpa bearing gifts from the Ebel's which were met with screams from Katie and Zack.

Off to IKEA just for fun and to Costco for New Year's Day prep.

Goodbye Grandma and Grandpa--why didn't we take any pictures?

Hello Christine and Bruce!

Pete's sister and her husband came in for our 15th and final New Year's Day party. I had hoped that other Bostonians would drop in too but alas, no interest.

Have to admit I was pretty cranky about this last party coming too, feeling like we should have stopped last year. (PMS didn't help much either.) But once we got cooking I cheered up and had a nice New Year's Eve.. We had Barbecue for dinner, played a new board game Carcassonne and then watched the 100th time Dick Clark has hosted the ball drop--what happened to his teeth?

Guest began arriving around 12:30 on Tuesday and we were all wrapped up by 6pm. It was a nice party and a good way to end the tradition. It was also clear why I was ready to be done with it. It was just too big. I'd rather spend 45 minutes with 5 ppl than 5 minutes each with 45 ppl. I also realized the next day that several people had been left off the guest list (no wonder I never heard from them...) , more proof that it was getting out of hand.

And so the new year is here. No resolutions, but wishes for peace, serenity, time together and laughter.

Happy New Year.