The first guests of a New Year set the tone for the months to come. Well, not really, actually not at all, but our attic was graced by my niece and nephew on the first night of the year, so it sounds good. They are growing much taller and much too quickly – soon they will tower over us, though no shift in authority will take place. On this night, I promised them a dinner of appetizers, so we made a quick market run, then returned to set up lumpia, cocktail wieners, clementines, Vermonth cheddar cheese, Honeycrisp apples, various crackers and chips, a Rice Krispies treat, a pomegranate, pears, pineapple, Fresca, and a bag of five shrimp. It was, as Emi declared, the most random collection of food that they’d ever had for dinner. Welcome back to Uncle Al and Uncle Andy’s kitchen!
After ‘dinner’ we worked on some playlists for a possible trip to Boston (to make up for this one that the twins had to miss). Noah came up with the funkified portion of the list, while Emi suggested some Tay Tay Etcetera. We went to the basement to watch a movie and paint our nails, and then it was bedtime. After tucking them in, I read a few poems from Rumi, popped Bab’s Christmas Casserole in the oven, then hunkered down myself. All in all, it was a lovely start to the year.
