New Year’s Eve got off to a somewhat lazy start. We had a big day on Sunday and easing into Monday was essential.
After enjoying some coffee, I started to organize all of the new possessions we accumulated over the past week. I knew Jarmon would be in a hurry to get on the road on New Year’s Day, so packing ahead (or at least starting to) was a must. I honestly don’t know how it’s all going to fit in our house, but we are blessed to have this problem.
After sorting the Christmas gifts and purchases into boxes, DD and I ran some errands. Basically, returns I wanted to make in Greensburg because I believed it would be easier than making them in Chicago with Arabella in tow. I wasn’t able to make all of them, but got a good start. For example, remember that Amazon return I tried to return at Kohl’s in Philly? Well, I thought I was going to return it to the post office in Greensburg. Not so much. If I did that, I’d have to pay for shipping. So now the box is headed to a third city— Chicago— where I will deliver it to an Amazon “storefront” for free. Oye. Online shopping is crazy convenient… until you have to return something.
Arabella was a little fussy as we got ready to head to Liz and Tony’s New Year’s Eve party— she, like all of us, clearly had a holiday hangover. We felt a little guilty leaving her on her first NYE, but we’ve been spending NYE with Liz, Tony and other dear friends for years and we love the tradition. There’s something special about ringing in the new year with some of your closest friends.
This year, the party was at Liz and Tony’s new house in Oakmont— and it was bigger than ever. I had some champagne early in the evening, then sipped on lemon and mint water for the rest of the evening so I could drive us home. As much as we wanted to stay and party all night, we knew we would regret it in the morning when we would also be facing a long drive back to Chicago.
Our party animal children— Arabella and Baxter— also had a great night. DD and MJ busted out hats and noise makers and they had a party on the home front. The pics were pretty epic.
When we finally got home around 230a Arabella was sound asleep, but Baxter was sitting at the top of the stairs waiting for us. (Perhaps looking for someone to save him from the festive celebration, ha!)
Trina Orlando 