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spryngGood riddance, 2022.
We sent it off well, I think. Family was in town and thus family gathered at our place, since there are few other places for them to gather. My mom dropped a text out of the blue yesterday, telling me to invite everyone over to my place. I hadn't even thought about it, because everyone always ends up here, explicitly invited or not. They're not vampires.
Baby Doore surprised us on Thursday with a last minute gift of strep throat, but we got him to the doctor and on antibiotics, and he's been doing better. But it threw most of our plans into disarray, as there's now another Baby in the mix, this one hardly 5 months old and just holding up her head. We couldn't risk her getting strep, so we were exiled for 24 hours from the rest of the family until the antibiotics made him less infectious.
Which, fair.
So instead of hanging with family on Friday like we'd planned, we had more time together -- and to clean. Cabin Girl has started telling people she wants to be a cleaning girl when she grows up, which, tbf, when I asked her to clean the bathroom, she happily did. But her idea of cleaning her room is shoving everything in her closet or a corner, so I think she has some training to do, first.
Between the cleaning, we also visited Sweetwater, the park just south of town where you can typically see a ton of gators and birds. No gators on Friday, unfortunately, but it was a nice walk. I even took some pictures; it's been a goal of mine to drag out and dust off the DSLR more often.
Afternoon was hanging at my uncle's place just out of town with the rest of the (un)invited family. More family on Saturday, but this time we started with a hike in Paynes Prairie and got to see some actual wild horses - far off and distant, but still.
Then a quiet break - long enough for us to try and get Baby Doore to sleep but fail, because he took a short nap in the car instead - and finally the last familying for the evening. And there was food and there was laughter and I got to offload two more bottles of wine and there was cards and there were kids running around and Baby Doore frantically trying to be Everywhere with Everyone and I just
It was just like those family get-togethers I remembered when I was the kid, playing with my cousins, and I had a jarring realization that yes, this is That, but for Them. I'm on the other side now, making that happen. These kids will remember playing in our house for New Year's Eve like I remember playing at my grandparents. And now I am both older and not, because I... love this? I love being able to make this space for them, to watch them play and grow and be friends. I wanted this for them and being so distant from family was part of why I hated Michigan so much -- sorry Michigan -- and I worried I'd never have this.
So that's how we ushered 2022 out the door: with a house full of laughter and conversation, games and food. No fights, no police (ask me sometime about NYE 2019, haaah), no bad blood. Just love.
And that's what I hope to welcome 2023 with.
We sent it off well, I think. Family was in town and thus family gathered at our place, since there are few other places for them to gather. My mom dropped a text out of the blue yesterday, telling me to invite everyone over to my place. I hadn't even thought about it, because everyone always ends up here, explicitly invited or not. They're not vampires.
Baby Doore surprised us on Thursday with a last minute gift of strep throat, but we got him to the doctor and on antibiotics, and he's been doing better. But it threw most of our plans into disarray, as there's now another Baby in the mix, this one hardly 5 months old and just holding up her head. We couldn't risk her getting strep, so we were exiled for 24 hours from the rest of the family until the antibiotics made him less infectious.
Which, fair.
So instead of hanging with family on Friday like we'd planned, we had more time together -- and to clean. Cabin Girl has started telling people she wants to be a cleaning girl when she grows up, which, tbf, when I asked her to clean the bathroom, she happily did. But her idea of cleaning her room is shoving everything in her closet or a corner, so I think she has some training to do, first.
Between the cleaning, we also visited Sweetwater, the park just south of town where you can typically see a ton of gators and birds. No gators on Friday, unfortunately, but it was a nice walk. I even took some pictures; it's been a goal of mine to drag out and dust off the DSLR more often.
Afternoon was hanging at my uncle's place just out of town with the rest of the (un)invited family. More family on Saturday, but this time we started with a hike in Paynes Prairie and got to see some actual wild horses - far off and distant, but still.
Then a quiet break - long enough for us to try and get Baby Doore to sleep but fail, because he took a short nap in the car instead - and finally the last familying for the evening. And there was food and there was laughter and I got to offload two more bottles of wine and there was cards and there were kids running around and Baby Doore frantically trying to be Everywhere with Everyone and I just
It was just like those family get-togethers I remembered when I was the kid, playing with my cousins, and I had a jarring realization that yes, this is That, but for Them. I'm on the other side now, making that happen. These kids will remember playing in our house for New Year's Eve like I remember playing at my grandparents. And now I am both older and not, because I... love this? I love being able to make this space for them, to watch them play and grow and be friends. I wanted this for them and being so distant from family was part of why I hated Michigan so much -- sorry Michigan -- and I worried I'd never have this.
So that's how we ushered 2022 out the door: with a house full of laughter and conversation, games and food. No fights, no police (ask me sometime about NYE 2019, haaah), no bad blood. Just love.
And that's what I hope to welcome 2023 with.
