Camp Christmas!

Time for a new post. The unlike-me, political posting has been up for long enough and it's time for something more cheerful. However, I am glad to see that it had about 200 views and maybe I helped a little in spreading the word about what is going on.

I shared a posting and pics about the wedding last weekend, but said that I had more photos to share from other events and would be doing so in reverse order. So, here we go.

Let's talk about Camp Christmas. What's that, you might ask? Well, some of you may be frequent readers of Jenny's Thoughts, where this has already recently been explained. But in case you don't know, for a few years now we have spent the weekend around New Years at our dear friends, Mike and Jenny's house. Yes. We all move in. This means that Jason and I, Adrienne, Joshua, Noah, Veronica and Kahlua moved in with them and their three kids for three nights.

The reaction some have had to this can be quite amusing. It seems that some think this would be a loud, chaotic circus; some awful, unenjoyable, much-too-long experience. Okay, well it may be a loud, chaotic circus. There's no denying that. Six kids, one teenager, one dog and four adults drinking? That's like the epitome of a circus.

But if you think that the weekend would drag on too long, that we would get sick of each other or that it would be too close for comfort, you couldn't be more wrong. We didn't want to leave! And I'm pretty sure we never wore out our welcome. They did invite us back for dinner two weeks later, so that's a good sign :) Really--Everyone needs friends like Mike and Jenny, who are the most gracious, welcoming, laid back and fun hosting friends you could ask for.

We spent the days cooking yummy food, drinking yummy cocktails, playing games, taking the dog for jogs and talking. Jenny and I discussed at length our intentions to become the women we were meant to be in 2013, just like we have the past few years. We went to Mass at St. Joe's and took the children to see the Winter Wonderland in Bellevue.

Then, on New Year's Eve, we put the children to bed and Adrienne had sweetly agreed to babysit. We joined my family at my parents' house and then went out on the town in a party bus. Oh, yes we did. We had done this for my sister, Kristen's 21st birthday party last March. It was so fantastic that we decided that it was a must for New Year's. It's really the only way to roll. 24 of us dancing and drinking on a bus with a designated driver? Yes, please! We popped in at the Pike Place Pub and Grill for a while, watched the fireworks from Queen Anne's Kerry Park and ended the night by stopping at Dick's. The whole night was a hit -- my family is already talking about booking for next year!

Overall, Camp Christmas was another great success and on New Year's Day, it was hard to go home. It really was a blessed and merry way to bring in the New Year. Cheers to 2013!