Happy Chanukah
Back on the 30th of December, we headed out to Scott & Gaynor's house for the annual Chanukah Fest! Unfortunately, we were so busy chatting with adults and eating the super yummy food that we only got 1 picture!! The one we did get was a so-so picture of Amanda standing on the dining room table and clapping, and it's not nearly as cute as it was in person! Tenley was able to properly appreciate the curving staircase in the house on this visit, and able to strenously object to us telling her to get off of it. She and Amanda definately recognize each other and had a good time playing together, I was most impressed that Amanda managed to keep Tenley from taking the stroller she was pushing around! We had a great time and I'm rationing the latkes Gaynor sent home with me.
Happy New Year
On the same 30th of December, Auntie Meg & Auntie Lisa decided they were sick of the pressure to have dates and find something "fun" to do for New Year's Eve, and instead just invited the extended family over for potluck & cocktails. As usual, an evening with the family ended up being as much fun as any other party I've been to, and it was nice to spend the evening grazing and hanging out. Tenley ate her weight in Honeybaked Ham and homemade Mac & Cheese, and then hijacked Jen's chocolate cake, Dad's cheesecake, Grandma's butter cookie, and Mom's pumpkin strusel cake. She made it all the way to midnight and then felt that in addition to kisses she should get some champagne...you can see what she thought of that in the picture above.
However, it turns out that Tenley (like her mom) never wants the party to end: she dozed off on the way home and then slept peacefully until 3:30 when she decided that the party should go on! So we were all back up by 4, and didn't get back to bed until after 8:30 in the morning. So, the 1st really started for us at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon when we all came to again.
Happy New Year Again
Since the 1st fell on a Sunday, everyone took the 2nd off too; so we had Grandma Susie and Aunties Meg & Lisa over for brunch and the last of the Christmas gift opening. We would have watched the dead flowers roll by in the pouring rain, but as we still had no cable, we settled for devouring the monkey bread and watching Mom & Meg unwrap their loot.
Honestly, I was happy to see the back of 2005. It was a very bittersweet year: it brought me unspeakable happiness in the form of my daughter, in Megan coming back to California, several good friends having beautiful babies, and my first visit to China; but Megan came home to care for her dying mother, my mom got diabetes, my sorority sister Sara lost her home and restaurant in Katrina, my father's best friend died just before Christmas, and several of our friends lost beloved pets. It was a year of amazing gifts with amazing loss. I hope that 2006 brings more of the sweet than the bitter.
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