Wednesday, December 31 New Year's Eve

Half day at the preschool, only 8 students out of 16! The bus was so empty Aeden got a seat to himself and was pretty pleased. And check out those new shoes, complete with some snow on the toe! Second pair I've ever bought for him, thanks to Alex hand-me-downs.





We came home for naps before the long night and then had a family trip to Carrefour for last minute supplies for our get-together tonight. Paul and Tim are bringing their families for a low-key New Year's, no turkey dinner at our house, which is the new tradition here for New Year's (many of the Christmas traditions, like turkey dinner, gift exchanges, decorated trees, strings of lights, etc. are transferred to New Year's celebrations here).

After eating a tasty meal of spaghetti and red sauce, garlic bread, and the mercimek kofte (lentil balls) and su boregi (water pastry) that Nuray made, we sat around and chatted until midnight. I am really enjoying getting to know Tim, Nuray, Paul, and Becky and just sitting around chatting with them. We snagged a picture of Aeden's new "camera grin" before he went off to bed...



And at some point someone snuck a picture of me...with a watch on, even! I haven't worn a watch since I was in college, before I always had a cell phone in my pocket. It is taking some getting used to, but I'm happy to not have a cell phone ringing all the time!



The girls watched movies upstairs in Lacey's bedroom, but at some point Maren climbed into bed with her jeans still on and was totally asleep when midnight rolled around. Lacey, Meggie, and Lizzie all came downstairs, dressed in their hats and masks, and burst into the living room at midnight...except they were five minutes early! Gave us a chance to get a camera ready for the real thing the next time around, though! No joke, we all stood in a circle with arms crossed to sing (or listen to the others sing) Auld Lang Syne. I didn't know that song even had more verses! There were a few fireworks to watch out the window, and then it was time for bed. But it was still 2008 back home, for 10 more hours even!