Stories of the Swiderski Sisters (and their parents): Old Lang Syne

Yup, I had to look up the spelling of that one.

We had the whole Anderson/Swiderski/Doezel/LeBrun clan together for a Christmas/Birthday/New Year's celebration. We like to keep things easy.

Part 1: Outdoor Activities

A little New Year's hide and seek in the woods.

I chose to post this, even though Bapa is wearing this jersey.

Part 2: New Year's Morning, aka Christmas morning.

Holy presents! What you may not know is that GGma Muriel brought 90% of what you see here. Also, 89% of this is for Claire.

Claire was a good, albeit distracted, elf.

Claire wanted to make Christmas a bit more interesting, with a present hunt. We might have to reexplain the difference between Easter (egg/present hunting) and Christmas.

Claire was also a very good present-opening helper.

I love the fact that she needed to play with/wear each present she opened. It made the morning last longer! I also know I'll miss that when she is a few years older and tears through presents. This was present #27.

10 minutes later. Present #28. A very touching recorded book from Uncle Max and Mo. Claire reads this every night now before bed. She also reads along with the story! Oh, and she calls the woofs "Turk" (Max and Mo's puppy). Too cute!

Reading the newest installment of llama books with Taylin.

Pooped from all the present hiding, present opening help and story reading, Claire grabbed a seat.

More reading.

Seriously pooped from all the morning's work, Claire could only open presents from a horizontal position.

One of Claire's favorite gifts was a hand-painted table from Nonnie and Bapa.

It apparently took the whole family to put it together.

Claire double checked that all the screws were in the bag they came in.

Part 3: Outdoor Activities - again.

It may be hard to see, but Ryan is the one in the blue coat. This was really the first time Claire got to play in snow this year.

We also practiced our synchronized family ice skating routine.

Then Claire and daddy went hunting for fishies. Though we kept a close eye on her as she could have fit through one of the holes!

Part 4: New Year's Eve Celebrations

The men (well, Bapa) decided they (the men) should make New Year's Eve dinner.

Yes, it went very well. (I won't even mention how the women swooped in to save the day, won't even bring it up).

2 out of 3 look happy!

Maybe Claire just wanted some appetizers...

...or a hug from Mo!...

...or maybe just some more whipped cream (she got more of that and less of the rum cake Bapa made).

Now for a few family shots on the stairs. These two made this celebration (and the people involved) all possible. Aren't they cute?!?!

This picture was taken just before Claire went crowd-surfing down the stairs.

We had a wonderful New Year's evening, full of delicious food and a beverages. At about 11:15 we decided to put away our "game" cards and Banagrams and break out the champagne. We also turned on the tv so we could see the countdown. Carson Daily was a bit boring, so we switched to something else (important note: this other channel did not have a countdown).

We heard the clock on the mantle strike midnigt and proceeded to boo the clock, seeing as it was early. We then switched back to Carson Daily, only to see Lady Gaga kissing someone. Wait, what? I think we missed midnight....Pause. Then we did what anyone else would have done and started out own Gilbert Lake countdown. Happy New Year! What a way to ring in 2012.

About 12 seconds later Nonnie and Bapa headed off to bed. GGma had preceeded them by a few hours, saying it will still be New Year's Day tomorrow. This was the first year I realized there was some truth to that!

Well, we youngins, whooped it up until at least 12:15. Good times!