New Year's Eve

I could write a ton about New Year's Eve, but one of my resolutions is to not spend so much time sitting in front of my computer.  I've made it before - it usually lasts a week.  Winter is hell, you know, and somehow being connected through the web makes it more tolerable.  I mean, I can sit here and watch live videos of places across the world and somewhat forget that it's 3 degrees outside and is only daylight for about 3.2 seconds.

 

Suffice it to say that New Year's Eve surprised me to no end.  Dinner was so much fun!!!  I knew that I would enjoy spending time with David and Terri and of course with Velma.  I had no idea that I would be laughing so hard that I nearly wet myself, that I would look over and B and see his eyes brimming with tears from laughing, that the feeling of warmth and delight would warm me all the way to my toes.  I have joked that I feel I am about 30% Gentzsch now, but I have never felt more of a sense of family than I did that night.  The food was delicious and plentiful, the dessert was rich and sweet, and the company was first rate.  Dave and Terri's friends are gems - and they made us all howl!  We had such a delightful time that we nearly didn't even leave to go to the party!  I would love to make dinner with them a monthly routine (or, well, at least a frequent occurrence.)

 

And I brought home a lovely Louet wheel, a whole mess of 6 inch fibers (thank you sweet Jesus,) a fabulous page a day knitting calendar (a new, full color, pattern every single day for a year!!,) and a whole mess of fun and fancy Mary Kay cosmetics (thanks, Terri.)

 

We finally did make it to the party, an hour late!  Walking into that house was like walking into a time warp.  I hadn't been there in 13 years, but not much had changed.  Gathered in the kitchen were a handful of old friends and, after all the "OH MY GOD!!" 's and the hugs and greetings, I took a long hard look at some of these people from my past.  Beautiful!  Each and every one of them seemed to have grown deeply into themselves and carried an air of easy success about them.  It warms my heart so much to see everyone doing so well.  Midnight brought fireworks and kisses all around, toasts with a huge assortment of cocktails, and warm wishes for a prosperous 2006.  B had a wonderful time after realizing that an old friend of his was there and they spent a lot of time catching up.  Velma was lovely, as always, and it was so nice to bring in the new year with my female Rock.  While B and VJ were ready to go around 1, they could tell that the stay at home (oh that cracks me up,) mom in me needed to visit and be social, so they settled by the fire and watched me do my social thing.  We left around 2 AM.

 

I could not have imagined such a wonderful way to end the year.  It could not have been better.