Snow and a Birthday

Brrr!!!!! We had a visit from Jack Frost here at the Jersey Shore.

Enough snow to keep the kiddos out of school on Friday.

For the second year in a row, our oldest boy, Dalton had a snow day for his

birthday. With an early January birthday, you have to take what you can get.

It's not the greatest time for a birthday. And you would think a kid would LOVE

a snow day for his birthday. Right? Not mine. He loves school and the snow storm also meant that we rescheduled his sleepover party. He has a great group of friends that know how to have a fun time and they love these sleepovers. So next week my house will be filled with fun, goofy 12 year old boys.

I had to get out of the house for a few minutes by myself. I am happy to knit the day away....but I needed fresh air and some quiet. So I snuck out with the dog and we took a short walk around the farm. I wanted to get in closer to the alpacas but not with Jeter. Didn't want him freaking them out.

So just a short walk on the slippery road. 

Hope you are staying warm and enjoying the down time.

Enjoy some football today and THEN the long awaited wait is over!!!

Downton Abbey on tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally!

Happy Sunday folks.

Links: Arrow Scarf (ravelry page) 

Book Dalton is reading: Catching Fire (we're finally catching up!)

Farm Website: Arrow Acres Farm

Baby Booties: Ravelry Page

Tradition

I thought I would share a bit of our New Years Celebration with you all.

A quick history of what this holiday is all about when you're in this family....

My grandparents on my mother's side were Vi and Len.

Vi's first cousin, Anne married Len's first cousin, "Apple".

They were all best of friends.

Got it?

I swear, no one is related in a weird way.

 

So, 60 years or so ago, Vi and Len have their first baby girl right before Christmas.

Anne and Apple also have their first baby girl right before Christmas.

New Years comes along and with both couples having new babies they decided to spend the New Year at each others house.

The next year, they went to the other couple's house.

Then the next year they must have thought this was a fun idea.

So they switched houses again to ring in the New Year.

Fast forward over 60 years and we're still doing this.

The original couples that started this tradition have passed away, but never forgotten

and the tradition is carried on year after year after year.

Cousins and cousins gather together from all corners of this country.

We gather together on New Years Eve around 9:00pm.

We laugh, eat, drink, bang pots and pans and sing Silver Bells, eat dinner at midnight.

Go home....sleep.

Come back at 10am New Years Day and start all over again.

Eat, laugh, play games, spend time together, play football pools, laugh, laugh some more....eat a full dinner around 6:00pm and then go home.

You get the deal. It's a pretty special thing and I am so thankful to be a part of it.

 

My parents were the host this year, so next year is their year off.

We'll head one town over to Spring Lake for 2015.

 

Here are some photos....

Enjoy.

 Don't worry. That's non-alcoholic beer.

 

Picking out the pots and pans!

 It's getting late!

Time to go home for the night...

Back for breakfast!

You can't even begin to imagine how much food is consumed. We know how to eat.

Guarding the football pool cups

A view from above the yearly game of LCR (left-right-center)

With this many people the winner makes a killing!

 

 It's a shame that Lizzie doesn't show any expression while she plays.

 Our little winner!!!!!

 Of course we found some time for knitting during the day.

Wish this cousin lived closer so we could knit together all the time!

This was the first year in many that all the original cousins were together so it was time for a group photo. Here are the OLD people.

 And here are the rest of us.

No better way to ring in the New Year than with these people.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my mom and dad for doing this for us year after year.

And thank you to my Spring Lake cousins for having it every other year.

I feel extremely lucky to be a part of this crazy fun family.

Happy New Year to All!

A New Year

Wishing everyone a healthy, happy 2014!

The store will be restocked soon and open for business.

Hoping everyone had a wonderful holiday season.