New Year. Old Friends. Small Crowd. Big Changes.

Last night we rang in the New Year the way we have for many years past.  We gathered with our best friends at the Ellis home.  We laid out the traditional spread;  country ham & biscuits, cheesy potatoes, pigs in a blanket, spinach dip, brownies, lemon blossoms and other various health food items. 

We had a smaller crowd than usual since a few families had other commitments.  It's funny that a small crowd to us means only 17 kids were there.  It didn't matter though.  It still sounded like like our normal 24 kids in attendance.

Just like always, we gathered the adults together to play a game that would surely result in marital discord for at least one couple and plenty of "you better watch him, he cheats" comments.  This year it was Wits & Wagers.  The Ellis' had the honor of both the marital discord and cheating accusations (thanks to Rob's questionable chip dealing practices).  Nicole was my partner and we did pretty well for 2 girls who had no idea what any of the answers were.  We guessed.  We wagered.  And most of the time we won a few chips.  It was shameful when Handiman guessed the answer to the Brad Pitt/Jennifer Anniston question more accurately than we did.  (Come to think of it, perhaps he should be more ashamed.)

We also kept to tradition and sent all the kids upstairs to play.  Believe it or not, it was easier when they were younger.  Back then, we could stick the whole bunch in a big playroom and they would (noisily) entertain themselves for hours.  Now, some are more interested in coming down to eavesdrop on the adult conversations.  And yet others are now teenagers.  And teenagers require a different type of supervision. 

And they also eat all your cookie cake when you're not looking.

(**side note:  Seriously, we almost always have a cookie cake for Steve's birthday.  And we almost always have about half of it left at the end of the night.  Last night, Steve got his piece, somebody announced to the kids it was there and 5 minutes later the teenage boys descended and it was gone.  Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to snag a piece first.  Forget the raging hormones.  I think protecting our party food will be our greatest challenge for the next few years.)

Just like always, the men eventually found themselves around a table engrossed in an epic card game.

And we girls gathered for some serious discussions about overpriced jeans, how long to keep Christmas cards and our intentions to start exercising.  Tomorrow.

Things were familiar and comfortable and fun.  Just like always.

And then we gathered the kids for the traditional staircase picture.

And this is where every year the passing of time becomes very evident.  Actually, for me the moment came the minute we arrived at the party.  There on the couch sat Andrea's daughter Taylor, home from college for the holidays. 

Sweet Taylor was always one of the oldest kids at the party on New Year's Eve.  She was usually put in charge of supervising the little ones and reporting any suspicious activity back to us.  But here she was, an adult at the party.  All of sudden it hit me that at all of these parties marking the passing of time each year, time really was passing.  And passing fast.  Some things just aren't ever going to be the same.

One year they look like this

Then all of sudden they look like this

I'm sure now more than ever before that in the blink of an eye it will be my daughter home visiting from college.  And those teenagers eating our cookie cake will be having parties with kids of their own.  But for now, I'm glad that some things never change.  Like the fact that I'll take a picture with my girls at the beginning of each new year until we're too old to stay up until midnight.  And then we'll take one around 9:30.