New Year's

I'm not sure how they did it, but the kids all managed to stay up until midnight to "ring" in the New Year by making some noise. We weren't the only ones in the neighborhood making a ruckus, though.New Year's Day we spent at Great-Grandma's Christmas party. Of course, there has to be "Bingo". Can you just see the concentration at this table? Maybe if there were prizes to be won, they'd concentrate just as hard on their homework. Nah.

Just had to document something that you might not ever see again - Jeff AND Aunt Jolene doing the dishes. Jolene you will find in the kitchen again, I'm sure, but with JEFF? Really.
Mom is famous for her "White Elephant" game. The kids were anxiously awaiting their turn at the gift pile.
Can you sense the anticipation in THIS picture? Little did they know that among those great-looking gifts was a massive tax textbook, a "lovely" Dryden family clock, a Malawi-ian hoe, THE candle-of-all-candles, and a vintage trivia card game.After the Eddington family party it was back to Mom and Dad's to celebrate Jeff's birthday. Nothing says "party" like a pinata - especially a scary clown pinata. All the kids got a whack at it - Dallin was the oldest and the last of the whackers. Nice head shot, Dallin!

The mayhem - oh, if only you could HEAR it.

In the end you know the holidays are officially over by the size of your husband's (and son's) gut. How did we do this year? Should we put it to a vote?

(Dallin, Doug, Leon, and Dave)