All's Fair in Love & Board Games

Typically on New Year's Eve, my kids will attend parties, and about every other year I let them have their sleepover/party here.  When it's at our house I let them bang pots and pans and run through the streets at midnight yelling "Happy New Year!"  But I only let them do this for about a minute and then they have to come back inside before the neighbors start calling the po-po.  Hehe.

Then on New Year's Day, I usually invite my sister's family up from Spanish Fork for lunch and a day of games and chit-chat, and just hanging out.

Well, this year wasn't "typical" because A) my parents came in from Carson City, NV and my brother & his new wife came in from Barstow, CA for my niece's baptism and for our annual family Christmas party   and  B) because we were already down at my sister's house for the baptism and Christmas party, we stayed down there for the New Year's Eve par-tay too.

The morning of our New Year's Eve Day was devoted to Chloe's baptism.  She was excited and we were all so proud of her for her decision to be baptized.  It was fun to be a part of her special day.

The afternoon of New Year's Eve Day was devoted to our annual Christmas party.  We exchanged gifts, played games and stuffed ourselves full of food.  We laughed and had a lot of fun. Then we cleaned up a bit and went to my sister's friend's house for a New Year's Eve party (because that is where SHE typically spends NYE and we were down there this year).  It was fun as we played more games, laughed some more, and managed to stuff ourselves full of more food while some of the party-goers got fake-drunk on fake-beer (birch beer, apple beer, root beer, etc.).  At midnight, they went and lit fireworks in the street.  By this time I was dragging a bit.

Thanks to my parents, the kidlets and I stayed in a hotel down there so I wasn't driving all the way back up to my house in the middle of the night.

Yesterday we all went to church with my sister and then headed up to my house for the usual New Year's Day lunch and game day.  We had a taco bar and lots of other treats and spent the rest of the day playing games.  The family that eats and plays together, stays together, or something like that right?

Overall, we had a ton of fun swapping stories, swapping presents, laughing our butts off, stuffing our guts full, playing jokes on each other and playing games.  It was a jam-packed weekend for sure.

After everyone left yesterday, I was sooo tired, I laid down for a little nap around 7:30 and ended up sleeping all night long.  The nice thing is, I don't have to work today.  w00t!