Happy New Year!

Well, I think I may finally be recovered from New Year's Eve...just in time to go visit my parents again!

We went to hubby's uncle's house for his annual New Year's Eve party, which is always a fun mix of older couples, adult children with their children, and a whole bunch of teenagers (thanks to this uncle having both adult children, and still having one teen stepdaughter in the house). We were the youngest of the couples, and the first ones to leave (at 12:30!!! I grew up going to bed at 12:05 on New Years, as I was never allowed to go anywhere to celebrate). So, we went over the MILs house to spend the night (she's a mile from this uncle's house), but my little BIL was having a New Year's party there...with all of the teens spending the night (okay BIL is now 21, but he was the oldest in this group, which included 3 15-16 year old girls). So, we got the girls to bed in MILs room, set up the playpen in there for Charlotte, and we slept on the couches in the living room...the party raged on until about 4 in the morning in the basement, when they all finally crashed. Let's just say it certainly wasn't the most restful night's sleep I've ever gotten.

Been busy trying to keep the house in order...I even managed to mop the kitchen floors yesterday, which is a MAJOR accomplishment in this house.

So, on to our trip today. Once hubby gets off work we are heading up to the mountains to see my mom. Her sister got tickets out here to visit for Christmas from her hubby (they live in Ohio) so she's going to help out my mom for about a week, as my mom still can't do a lot since her surgery last month. Hopefully she'll be up to speed by February.

The funny part about this all is that we are going to end up missing hubby's family's big Christmas shindig, which I've been threatening to miss for months to my MIL (she's so much fun to tease!)...but in the end, we actually are missing it...

It's fine by me to miss the whole thing, as all the fun has been sucked out of it anyway...it used to be in people's homes, and we used to at least do some sort of gift exchange or something (sometimes it was drawing names, sometimes it was a generic gift for your gender, etc.) but complete lack of tact and some oversensitivity has led to no more of that...and the size of the family has led to people hosting at alternate locations (this year it is at the fairgrounds, woo hoo!) Honestly, I have a feeling that the turnout will be low enough that it could have been done at someone's house. Of course, more people might want to come if it were a little more cozy and a little more fun...it feels more like an office Christmas party than a family one.

Oh, and this cracks me up...EVERYONE in hubby's family is really good at cooking for an army. Our family cookbook has recipes like "Sloppy Joes for 100-125" in it...but the aunt in charge of the Christmas get together this year gave everyone TWO items to bring...I'm supposed to bring a vegetable and a dessert...and told 3-5 women to bring POTATOES, including my MIL who makes enough potatoes for 20 if we come up for dinner (bringing the grand total of people to 7...but that includes a 3 year old and a 1 year old!) The thing I am going to miss is seeing just how much food comes to this gathering!