A New Year of.....

I have no idea what this upcoming year will bring.

If you believe the doom and gloom being spouted.  Obamacare and whatever compromises that Congress made so we didn't go over the fiscal cliff, and, the drought of 2012 will bring a bad year for our personal finances.  It might be, but I am not giving up hope.

To ring in the new year, we had our usual, just us, night of making homemade pizzas.....

Playing games....

(We even got Rainman to stop playing Spider solitaire and Sporcle quizzes long enough to join us for a few rounds)

And, of course, we worked on puzzles....which are patiently waiting for us on the T.V. tray near L-girl.

I tried hard to just be in the moment this year and not take a ton of pictures of everything.  Although, once again, I noticed I am not in any of the pictures.....

Anyway, we stole a bunch of our game ideas from my sister, Karen. 

This oven mitts game is a total favorite from oldest to youngest.  V-girl got to participate this year.  She kept saying, "I can't open this thing with my "muppets" on."

I got action shots of this the last time we played this, back ringing in 2011.  This year, I actually had to steal prizes from other games because they wanted to just keep on playing this one.

We played Bingo too.  That is one of those games that you forget how fun it is.  Even my big kids kept saying....just one more board....even when I ran out of prizes.  When we were done and ready to move onto puzzles, A-girl came over to me and said, "Oh....I just feel all hot and flushed now.  Bingo makes me sort of nervous."  I had to laugh, because I have thought that very same thing when we have played Bingo somewhere.  I want to win, of course....but I am so nervous the whole time just thinking about screaming out Bingo in front of everyone...it sort of ruins the fun.

We puzzled until the new year.  S-girl made it  until about 11:15 or so.  We woke her up just before the official New Year began (which is why she looks a little dazed in this picture and doesn't have her fake wine).

V-girl made it all the way until like 1:15 a.m., when we finally gave up on the puzzle for the night.  See the pink and purple dinosaur that L-girl is holding?  That was the most popular prize of the night.  $1.00 at Dollar Tree.  I should have gotten each of the kids one for Christmas based on their excitement over that little gal.  A-man decided that her name was Nessie.

I have so much fun at our family's New Year's eve parties.  I can't imagine when we won't all be together ringing in the new year.  To me, New Years is a family holiday.....like Thanksgiving.....like Christmas....like your birthday.   I hope my kids will agree.....but, I suppose the lure of a potentially more exciting and dressed up celebration will one day entice them away.....eventually.  (Although D-man had an invite to a teenage party this year, and turned them down saying that it was "tradition" for us to have our own party and to be together.)

I will take these kinds of nights with my kids as long as I have them. 

Here's to a prosperous.....blessed.......and, a year full of hope.....in 2013.....for us all!