The Party's Over

The holidays are over now. Our Christmas celebration lasted until Tuesday morning when the Fosters left for Detroit and the Thayns left for Tennessee taking Miriam and Daniel with them. While they were all here the house was filled with fun and food. Having them here was the best Christmas surprise anyone could have given me. Over the course of our four days together we managed to play games of Rage, Power Grid, Dixit, Ticket To Ride, Liar Dice, Tennzie, Scrabble, Carcassonne, and Guillotine. We love to play games. It gives us a semblance of structure while we sit and talk and laugh together as we play. During those four days Sarah kept us well fed with such delights as pizza, tamales, quesadillas, and a delicious blueberry orange sorbet and Miriam made us curry and nan bread. I wish it could have gone on forever. I love being with my children and their families so much.

Good-bye to the Thayn family.

Good-bye to Miriam and Daniel.

Good-bye to the Foster family.

 On Tuesday after everyone left, the house seemed so sad and quiet. Hannah, Josiah, and I took down all the Christmas decorations and cleaned the house. The house was tidy, but seemed empty. By the end of the day we’d heard from everyone that they’d arrived safely at their homes, which was a relief.

Undecorating.

 Because Hannah was leaving for college on New Years Eve, we decided to have our celebration early while she was still here. So on Wednesday for dinner we had our traditional buffet of pot stickers, egg rolls, little sausages, pan d’oro, a cheese ball with crackers, and sherbet punch. It seemed odd to celebrate early.

New Years Eve a day early.

 Hannah left on Thursday. Josiah and I drove her to Buffalo to catch a flight to Salt Lake City. She spent New Years with Geoffrey and Joni. Her Aunt Linda and cousin Emma will pick her up tomorrow and they will drive up to Rexburg to BYU-Idaho. It’s going to seem very strange not having Hannah here. Last year when she went to school in Alfred, New York, she came home on the weekends. Now we won’t see her again until school is out for the summer. I think she’ll have a great time at BYU-Idaho even though she was a bit nervous about going. She’ll be living in an apartment with her cousin Emma and it is a church school, which will help a lot. It was very difficult for me to say good-bye to her. I know that she is very smart and capable, but she’s still my precious Ned and I hated to see her leave. Poor Josiah won’t know what to do with himself now that he’s the only child at home. I love being with my children. If it was up to me, they’d all live here or at least nearby.

Good-bye to Hannah.

 After we got back from Buffalo, our New Years Eve celebration was very subdued with just Stacey, Josiah, Bill, and I. We ate leftovers from the night before. After dinner we watched David Copperfield (the 1999 Masterpiece Theater version). We were all in bed and fast asleep before midnight.

On New Years Day Bill left early in the morning (5:00) to go back home to California. Stacey drove him up to Buffalo to catch his flight west. He worked hard while he was here and kept so busy we didn’t see much of him some days, but it was fun having him here. I’m sure he missed celebrating the holidays with his own family and is glad to be back home again.

It took Stacey a while to get back from Buffalo. It was snowing hard in the lake effect region. She had to stop and buy snow tires for the car. She was glad Monroe Tire was open on New Years Day. The snow was only bad in that area. There isn’t much here. After she arrived home, we ate our traditional meal of pork and sauerkraut. It was strange to sit down with just the three of us. There were a lot of leftovers.

Our New Years Day dinner.

So now we’ve entered a new year. I’m not big on making New Years resolutions. The only resolutions I’m willing to make are things like “I will not drink eggnog or eat gingerbread until December,” or “I will grow as much food as possible in my garden this summer,” or “I will read as many books as I can this year.” We’re not feeling the excitement of beginning a new year so much. After having such a great Christmas and then seeing everyone leave, it’s hard not to feel a little depressed. The holidays are over. Tomorrow school starts again. Everything will go back to normal, only different.

Who knows what 2016 will bring. We know there are some big changes in store for us. Josiah will graduate in June and leave on his mission in July. Hannah will be at school until May then come home for the summer then will go again in August. Stacey and I will enter the “empty nester” phase of our lives – a phase I’ve never even been able to imagine. In our extended family we’ll have cousins going on missions and coming home from missions. Maybe there will be a wedding or two, although at this point I don’t see anything happening in that direction, but you never know. We are expecting no new grandchildren, but that can change. As always, I have big plans for my garden this year – new methods to implement, new varieties of vegetables to try. It’s all there, ahead of us, waiting.

I wish you all a happy and prosperous new year!