Happy New Year!

Last year, Mom, Dad, Mer, Pete and Kate all had a blast at the Jackie O's family-friendly NYE party, so this year Megan, Bob, Ben and I joined them! The party starts at 5:00 p.m., and they do a ball drop countdown to 2013 at 7:30 p.m.! Perfect for people like me who have trouble staying up late! It was wild!



We had the BEST beer. Bourbon Barrel Dark Apparition. It was totally delicious. Dangerously strong, though! At 11.5%, one of these little babies will kick your butt. Most of us had two. Whoops!



Pretty whales on the wall!



Grandma, Kate and Grandpa!



Megan and Bob won a door prize. LUCKY!!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! This year our celebration was very low-key, because my Mom and I both had colds. We spent much of the holidays texting each other pictures of our cold remedies or thermometer updates of our fevers.









I even had to miss Dennis's annual Cabin Christmas Eve Eve party!! This is the first year I've ever missed it since I met Ben. I've gone the past six years. I totally cried, wah wah!!

But we were able to pull ourselves together to enjoy Christmas Day through the haze of our sicknesses. LOOK at this wrapping paper that Mom found this year!! I took pictures so I could preserve the cuteness for all time.







Dad made cooking utensil sets for everybody this year, using scraps of fancy wood that he's been saving and collecting in his shop. My set is made with snakewood, and it's beautiful! He made Baby a little tiny matching snakewood set. Look how cute!!



Kate got a Log Cabin!



We all got Yo-Yo's!



Kate also got an accordion. Grandpa helped show her how to play it. It will take a lot of practice!





Eventually he changed into a cozy new pair of Christmas pajamas!



We took a break from opening presents to make a delicious breakfast feast. Mer made the same french toast that she made last year, from loaves of her amazing homemade cinnamon swirl bread!



On the griddle!



Plus some delicious lean local sausage.



Then it was back to presents! Merry Christmas, everyone!

Celebrate

Ben got a new job! He's going to be working in the IT department at Stewart MacDonald! We decided to go out to dinner at Purple Chopstix to celebrate. Also, Tom got us a fancy bottle of champagne as a wedding gift, and this seemed like a great excuse to drink it.



Cheers!



It really must have been our lucky night. Purple Chopstix doesn't often offer specials, but tonight they had a crabcake special!!!! We LOVE crabcakes.



They were delicious!



They also had a special soup! A Thai chicken and mushroom soup.



I forgot to take any more pictures, but we shared a red & yellow mixed curry with tofu, and a slice of the chocolate cake. It was a delicious feast. Congratulations to Ben!

NBIA Xmas Party

Tonight was the annual NBIA Xmas Party at Tracy & Tina's house! This party is always such a great time!



We enjoyed a round of the traditional NBIA Xmas party drink, Irish Car Bombs. Yum!



TJ claims to know how to make a "perfect martini," so he became the bartender for awhile. People drinking martinis look fancy, so I decided to take some portraits.



It took about five seconds for the portraits to stop being fancy, thanks to Sean!






Payback!



TJ gave Billie a spanking.



And then they did Sunshine Arms!



Which is like a super amped up version of Jazz Hands, really.



TJ's perfect martini. He is an olive hater, so he insists on only putting one per cocktail.



I followed him around and treated people to additional olives. Because they are DELICIOUS.



Lori's portrait.



Rick. Cheers!



Tracy had the CUTEST little limoncello glasses. They're so fancy you just can't resist sticking your pinky out while you sip. Dainty!



This picture is blurry but I'm posting it anyway, because Elizabeth and I are being so fancy with our pinkies!



Tracy and Tina, our wonderful hostess and host!



Unicorn Pegasus time! Lori's first!



Billie!



TRACY LET ME DO A UNICORN PEGASUS ON HIS FACE!!!!! He is my new favorite person! Aaron Mather let me do one on his forehead once, which was also awesome. But this was the first full-on face unipeg.



Billie captured this great photo of Tracy and I both pointing and me yelling. We must have been passionate about something! Point point point!



It's glorious!



Face unipeg!



Then we got to shoot guns!!!!!! Best party ever!!! Tracy got Tina a super realistic BB gun that's just like one of the guns in the Bond movies.



Ben shooting!



Me shooting!






Teej!



Billie!



Thanks to Tracy & Tina for ho-ho-hosting another excellent NBIA Xmas party!