Ain't no time like Baxter time

Here is the history of Andrea and Lauren:

Back in my grad school years (I mean--my other grad school years) in the lovely yet expensive borough of Princeton NJ, I needed a means of paying my rent. Enter Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, its exquisite Yamaha, and its visionary Music Director: Andrea Baxter. A warm and welcoming soul, she helped me to navigate the waters outside of my evangelical bubble ("Can people really be Christians if they go out for beer after choir rehearsal?!"), and to expand my musical horizons ("You don't really mean that I am going to play this conga, do you?!").

More than that, however, she pulled me into her family and gave me the gift of herself, her husband, and her boys in my life. Hence (since we have both moved on from NJ to different areas of PA and rarely have time or energy to connect via telephone), we have established a New Years Eve ritual that involves games, laughter, eating, drinking, and overall hysterical fun.



This year's festivities started off with a rousing round of guitar hero, involving the whole gang of us. (This was thanks to Adam and Nathan's Christmas gift of microphone and drum being added to their collection.) Notice that in these pictures my role never changes--they are all silently thinking "Finally, something she can actually do..." (and even this was spotty seeing as I didn't have my glasses on and couldn't really even see the words...)

The real party began, however, with Simon's unleashing of the confetti and his donning of the party hat (at a modified hour for which we provided a modified countdown).

Even Pete got in on the action. (I don't know Pete very well, seeing as this was his first New Years celebration with us, but I got the distinct feeling that Pete loves New Year's Eve...)

Thus commenced a dance party like no other, strobe light and dj included, that was difficult to capture by photograph, and for which the video will never be made public. Nathan contributed his dance moves, made complete by his classy shades.

Simon went off to bed, and the rest of us big kids played our traditional apples to apples (someone please explain to me how that game got invented, but do not try to deny that it can be awfully fun....), ate yummy snacks (see evidence below) and drank our new year's bubbly at the turning of the decade.

(Is it just me, or do these two share similar features? Hmmm...)

(I really shouldn't pick on him, since Adam single-handedly provided me with the enjoyable opportunity to reflect on my Princetonian life as I drove to pick him up from a friends house there on my way to PA, and pretty consistently teaches me how to use my own technological gadgets...)

The next morning began lazily, and the laziness never really ended. Simon and I played an exciting game of Lightning McQueen Uno, followed by a building frenzy that included "the world's smallest tower" (seen to the right). We had lunch and afterward we adults lounged at the table in conversation while the boys amused themselves.

Andrea and I headed to the mall for our annual New Years Day shopping trip, and then came back to finish preparing their traditional New Years Day pork & saeurkraut (how the heck do you spell that? Sorry A, I did the best I could.....) for dinner. The evening ended with Andrea and I bundled on the couch, watching a movie.

The next day I sadly departed, wending my way westward and back to the rest of my life. As I drove I reflected on

the fact that really--there ain't no time like Baxter time.