Out with the Old, In with the New

2008 ended with a BANG! While we were getting our New Year's Eve dinner prepared, Aunt Stacey called with some news:

That is right, Aunt Stacey is now the future "Ms. Gerald Dean Dunkin Bridge Junkin". They are planning a summer wedding. Mary Reese was asked to be a flower girl but turned Stacey down! We'll see if she changes her mind before the wedding :)

Growing up we always had fondue on New Year's Eve with our family and some family friends. Nicholas, Sue and Carter were in town...so we continued a family tradition with a New Year's Eve fondue:

Before heading off to bed {we all were fast asleep soon after midnight}, we got a beef brisket situated on the Big Green Egg.

Nicholas and Sue headed out this morning to cheer on the Tide in New Orleans. While I was on kid duty, Debbie was on kitchen duty. She whipped out all this yummy goodies to kick off the new year:

We had beef brisket, spicy black-eyed peas, freshly picked turnip greens, sweet potatoes, slaw and hog jowl {cooked by Popsy}.

Here are all the cousins eating their greens for money and peas for luck:

Banks ate both when I told him their meanings, Mary Reese refused to eat either and Carter was "tricked" into eating his {I camouflaged some of each on a bite of yogurt}. We topped off our traditional New Year's dinner with some banana pudding. We even busted out one of our Bingo prizes:

Banks and Mary Reese loved dipping pretzels, marshmallows and brownies in the flowing chocolate. After dessert and a game of Disney DVD Bingo, all the grandkids got a "Debbie Scrub Down":

Then the squeaky clean cousins all piled up in our bed for a little T.V. time before heading off to bed:

Hope everyone else had a wonderful start to a brand new year! Looks like it will be a busy one in our house with a new baby in March and a summer wedding!