2017, Huh? That's Weird

Well, well, well, what have we here? A brand new year, full of unsullied days just waiting to be lived to their fullest?

Don't worry, we'll fix that.

In the meantime, I enjoyed what is my very favorite day of the year. I spent it knitting (all right, belatedly finishing promised Christmas presents, if you must know) and eating party leftovers. In the interest of full disclosure, I have meringue-cookie crumbs all over the front of my shirt. Yup, it was that sort of a day. Because, oh yes, we held our annual New Year's Day party yesterday. And the prep was pretty much as grueling as ever, except Susie really represented by cleaning up THE ENTIRE BASEMENT while I was at yoga on Saturday morning.

Long-time readers will recall that this is the same child who, at the age of 7, actually replaced a roll of toilet paper on her own initiative. Yes, she is a keeper.

Theo, our Army officer, showed up last Friday, home from the Middle East after 7 months. I spent all day Friday cooking things I knew he would like, and I was amply rewarded by his saying, "I forgot how good American food can taste." So, yes, he, like Susie, basked in the glow of my unadulterated adoration for the weekend.

My Facebook-famous candy carousel

What with getting ready for the party and Theo's homecoming (not to mention Chanukah, and oh yeah the annual gingerbread house party), the week between Christmas and New Year's was crazy busy. I kept thinking, "This is vacation week. I should be sitting around knitting!" But that never happened. Maybe because Larry, with his supernatural ability to pile on, decided that this would be the PERFECT week to start looking for a new car.

Seriously.

We all know Larry by now, right? The spreadsheet guy? The "go big or go home" baker? This was no ordinary car search. I kept saying, "There's no rush - we're not selling your old van to David until March. We don't have to make a decision right now." But every time I came within shouting distance of the man, he'd start saying things like "What do YOU think is the difference between a 2-year-old car and a new one?" and "Maybe I should get an 8-year-old car real cheap" and "Do we need another minivan or should we go smaller?"

This happened so many times a day, I can't even count. When I would remind him that we had already discussed these issues and I had already given my opinion on all of them, he would look hurt and huff (as is his wont), "I'm only trying to make a good decision here."

All of which is really cute if you aren't trying to get ready for a big party and you don't have a house full of kids, grown and not, waiting for you to make dinner. As it was, it ended with me saying, "I DON'T CARE. BUY WHAT YOU WANT." Which, come to think of it, may have been his ultimate goal all along.

Made by Susie, when she wasn't cleaning the basement

So, yeah, somewhere in there he bought a car. And we cleaned the whole house. And I went to the grocery store gazillion times. And now, here we are, in 2017, and I have no idea how that happened.