Epiphany

Happy New Year!  I wasn't crazy about 2012.  I can't say it was a terrible year, but I am looking forward to 2013.  John bought me a great gift.  I have yet to find a perfect iphone app for my ever evolving to-do lists.  John bought me a to-do list calendar.  It is awesome and combines my favorite things:  list making, grid paper and good design.  See here.

We celebrated New Year's Eve at friends' (Darf and April) farmhouse out in the country.  We spent the night and the kids had a blast.

Chickens, horses, dogs, beer, bourbon, bonfire, barns, food and kids.  And the adults (carefully) shot clay birds.  John has decided that if there is a zombie apocalypse that we are going to his friend Darf's place for sure.  Here are Gus and Mimi.  Gus is looking very Mardi Gras in purple and green.

Oh yes.  Mardi Gras.  Today is Epiphany which means we transition here in Soulard from Christmas to Mardi Gras.  There's even a bunch of the local characters who have a mini-parade and proclamation declaring the start of Mardi Gras.  Every year my husband thinks there is gunfire.  It's not honey.  Just fireworks!

I like to send out our invitation to our Mardi Gras party near Epiphany.  They went out yesterday.   Punchbowl (my favorite of the evite sites) asked me, "you are about to send the invitation to 254 people.  Do you want to proceed?"  Gulp.  Yes.  Sure.  Click.  And now we are having a party where we've invited 254 people.  We always invite about that many.  And to date we've never run out of booze, food or toilet paper.  And that's all people really expect out of a Mardi Gras party.

The entertaining I do at Christmas is a mere warm up for Mardi Gras.  Take the extra leaf in the dining room table.  It sat 14 for Christmas Eve dinner.  Come Mardi Gras I push it against the wall and it holds 5 gallons of red beans and rice and a ton of other food.  The sweet pink and purple lights on the Advent tree?  They stay out for the purple/green/gold colors of Mardi Gras.  The green bow will stay on the wreath on the door; it's getting some purple ribbon to be Mardi Gras festive.

Here we go!