Thursday, January 3, 2008

Happy New Year

I hope everyone enjoyed bringing in the new year, we did. The girls and Noah went to bed around 10:00pm, Ted and Robbie stayed awake with me. Well, they were playing PS2 in the living room while I watched TV in the bedroom! I kicked them off the game around 11:30pm so we could watch Dick Clark's New Years Rockin Eve. I have watched that show ever since I was a young girl, so it seemed appropriate to watch it with my kids. I made us ice cream sundaes and we sat back and brought in the new year. Robbie said the countdown along with Dick while Ted and I kept eating! I think they enjoyed themselves, especially Robbie, ice cream that late at night and not getting in trouble was his highlight.

New Years Day was spent relaxing, for me anyway, the kids played with their new stuff. Since they have been home on vacation I have been constantly picking up after them. I decided to take a couple of days off, I wasn't enjoying their time home. Once I relaxed, we played a few games, Sorry was our favorite. I have always enjoyed that game, ever since I was young. I would make my friend Alison play that game with me for hours! Robbie didn't do very well with the concept of fair play, he took every move personally. I started to explain the thinking behind the moves Ted and I did, I think it helped. His lip would hit the floor if we knocked him back to start, and then if he didn't get the right number to get out, look out! By the third or forth game he got the gist and was right there knocking people back to start whenever he had the opportunity.

The Greeks have a tradition on New Years Day of making a cake, or it can be a sweet bread, called Vasilopita. It is in honor of St. Basil, it is his names day. You put a coin in it, whoever gets the coin in their piece of cake, has good luck for the coming year. The first slice goes to Jesus, the second to St. Basil, the third to the house, and then from there you start with the oldest member of the household and work your way down. I didn't know you are supposed to keep slicing until there is no more, someone is supposed to get the coin. I did all of the slices and still had cake left, so nobody got the coin. I emailed my sister-in-law with the question of what to do next. We were waiting on an answer before we cut anymore slices. In the meantime, Frick and Frack (Helen and Noah), climbed on the counter in order to get the very ripe bananas (I was planning on making banana bread) from the top of the refrigerator. They knocked the cake off the counter and onto the floor. We all ran into the kitchen and saw it laying there in all it's glory, I made a very nice looking cake, with the coin laying next to it. First thing I heard was, "Great, there's the coin, I guess no one has good luck this year!" Ted was just beside himself, he was so mad at Frick and Frack. He wasn't mad they dropped the cake, he was mad the coin had fallen out of the cake so no one could claim it! I told the story to my friend who is Greek and she got the biggest kick out of it. She told me next year to cut pieces for everyone, and if there is more, to start cutting for other family members who aren't there. She said to take the pieces and put them in a container to eat at a later date. I thought you had to eat the cake the same night you slice it, but you don't. Well, you learn something new every day!

The kids are back in school today, YEAH!!! We are back on a schedule, what a difference it makes. I have learned that I don't need as much sleep as I thought. While they were home I slept in, getting too much sleep. I function a lot better on about 6 hours of sleep than I do on 9 hours. I never would have guessed, I used to be such a sleeper when I was younger. Will that knowledge stop me from sleeping in on the week-ends? Probably not. You can't teach an old dog new tricks!!:o)


Until next time-
Take Care,
Sue
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