Happy New Year!  The theme for this year’s dinner party was “Yes, We’ve Turned Into our Parents” and “Church Cookbook Classics.”  Seriously, those old church cookbooks are gold mines!  Crock-pot pork bites served with toothpicks, Devils on Horseback, ranch-flavored cheese dip, and a dessert called “preacher’s coming.”  Only good friends can understand the beauty of a dinner like this one, and fortunately we have a bunch of those.

Somewhere between the cheese and cheese and more cheese, we switched to the 5 pounds of beef and then opened another bottle of wine and went back for more cheese.  Wow, Gruyere and white wine, that stuff is good.  And we have to eat it all because the Foleys spent a LOT of money on real Gruyere cheese!

We were incredulous at the fortunate discovery that between our three families, we had THREE fondu pots.  So this is why we’re friends!  We knew there was a reason.  Cheese, beef, chocolate, it was just like being at the melting pot, only instead of fancy sauces there was mostly just worcestershire and Ms. Balls Chutney.  We sat around the flames with our sticks and a lot of red wine, while the kids watched a Spy Kids movie.  Is it really almost midnight?  Quick, let’s go outside and watch some fireworks!  Who’s sleeping?  NOBODY is sleeping???  Well then, let’s do a quick toast to the New Year!

The fireworks outside were grazing the trees and were a little bit scary, and with each new blast we were relieved to see that the neighbors survived to light off another one.  Who is regulating these things?  Direct from China!  The music started, and I guess with all the kids awake there was no reason yet to end things, which meant we surprised ourselves by staying out on the patio, dancing and to 80’s tunes until almost 2am.  Who are we??  Is this what being our parents means?  Because this is pretty fun!!

The next day we woke up to sunshine and four-day weekend.  Mike made beignets.  One of those weird things that the Commissary keeps stocked.  “Beignet mix.”  ?????

The boys helped me put together our Christmas puzzle.  I’m so glad I have kids who like to do puzzles!!

And Jake woke us up at 6am every morning to play our new games:

Jake is pretty taken with the idea of making money and getting a good job; it’s interesting how the game of LIFE has changed from the way it was 30 years ago.  Now you can lose your job and pick which kind of house you want, as well as choose whether you’re going to go to college or plan a family.  It’s actually pretty neat.  And Jake likes to plan!

Eli is a bit more free-form in his play.  The term “bottle rocket” comes to mind…

Later, Daddy took the boys swimming.  Jake is an amazingly brave swimmer these days!

I can’t think of a better way to start the New Year than with a four-day weekend.  We met friends for lunch and rode our bikes, and went out to dinner because we were tired of cooking.  Although I wouldn’t really call fondu “cooking.”  It’s just fun.

Fun Do!  Thanks friends, for helping us ring in the New Year with a few cans of of Sterno!