Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2011 is finding everyone well with little to no hangover! We had a great night with family.
Clint's family has started the tradition of having the Ballew Christmas at Bart's house on New Year's Eve. We have tons of snacks, chili, oyster stew, Meme's custard and angelfood cake (super delicious by the way), Yankee swap with Christmas gifts (steal from your neighbor, Chinese gift exchange, whatever your family calls it), new drink recipes, and fun games.
I ended up with a Mizzou tailgating grill (I know, I know) and Clint ended up with shotgun shells and clay targets (thank goodness he stole that from me). We watched the kiddos run around like crazy people, played a few intense games of Sequence (Jenny and I kicked butt), and rang in the new year with our loves.
In getting ready for the new year, I had a HUGE decision to make. Take down my Christmas decorations before the new year and risk bad luck or keep up my Christmas decorations and risk bad luck. I decided to take them down because I had time...and it made it easier to dust. But I did make a compromise. My bare Christmas tree is still up in the living room (well, nearly bare. I can see one forgotten ornament as I type). This compromise happened not because I had a luck driven dilemma, but because I ran out of time before our party.
So this first day of 2011 will find me doing a winter cleaning (similar to a spring cleaning) and grading papers by a warm fire. Happy New Year!


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