Family and bananas… I’m sure you’re probably wondering what those two things, or at least the bananas part of it, have to do with starting out the New Year. Well, the month of December was a pretty crazy one. Fun, but crazy… from going to a Christmas party… to having late night chats with my sister… to playing board games with the family… I went bananas staying up late and even took it to an extreme and pulled an all-nighter or two. It was really bananas because I almost got my days and nights mixed up, and at my age, it’s going to take me a while to recuperate from that. But it was fun, lots of good memories made, and it was totally worth it.

While all that craziness was definitely bananas, we really did start off the New Year with all of my side of the family together and a big box of bananas. My brother and his family came down from Illinois to visit over New Years and to celebrate our family Christmas. A day prior to them coming, I had run to our local grocery store to grab a few last minute things and found an awesome deal. They had cases of organic bananas marked $5 each. From what I understand, the truck got too cold so quite a few cases had some damage from being frozen. The box I got had one bad banana, several with bad spots, but the majority of them were fine. I couldn’t pass up a deal like that so I got it. When I got home I took out the bunches of bananas that had damaged bananas in them, cut out the bad parts, and sliced them up and froze them. I’ve never frozen bananas before, so we were surprised to find out how good they are. I can’t wait to try them in smoothies.

My brother and his family arrived on New Year’s Eve. For New Year’s Day, we fixed our usual Christmas meal, which was pretty much the same as our Thanksgiving meal…

We had our last home grown turkey with all the fixings and actually still had a few tomatoes from the garden to add to the salad. It was delicious and everyone was stuffed.

Next, it was time to play in the snow…

It was super cold out, so the goats watched from the warmth of the barn…

The guineas didn’t know quite what to think about all the giggling and laughter so they perched up on the fence so they could watch from a safe distance….

Once everyone was done sledding, which didn’t take too long since it was so cold out, we all went in and enjoyed some hot chocolate. Soon it was time for our gift exchange. Once presents were passed out, everyone opened their gifts, and soon a big wrapping paper war started. Wads of paper were flying in all directions, kids were ganging up on adults and adults were ganging up on kids… yeah, it was bananas. Once the mess was cleaned up, everyone settled down and enjoyed playing and sharing…

Pictures were drawn…

train tracks were built…

and games were played.

The rest of the day was spent doing more playing and sharing, and there was plenty of visiting, laughter, snacking, and enjoying the time together. My brother’s youngest three daughters, each of my sister’s daughters and Miley are all with in a fairly close age range. So that evening they all had one big sleep over at Grandma’s house. With my brother living so far away, we only get together a few times a year but the kids never waste time having fun together and always pick up right where they left off from the last time they saw each other. It’s so fun to watch them playing together and it brings back so many fun memories of my own childhood playing with my cousins when they would visit.

The next day was spent doing much of the same, visiting, playing and having fun, and we ended the day with a pizza party. My brother’s family was planning on going home the next morning, but there was a big storm forecasted to come in overnight. All the kids went to bed excited and hopeful the storm would come and they’d all have another day to play. The next morning we woke to see the storm never arrived, so we all said our good byes and they headed for home.

Later that afternoon the storm finally showed up. While it took it’s time getting here, it didn’t waste any time covering everything in snow…

When it’s cold and snowing outside, I love to warm up the house by baking. Since there were still plenty of bananas left, I went to work making several batches of banana nut muffins to freeze for quick and easy breakfasts. With the aroma of banana nut muffins and the house warm and cozy, I began thinking back over the last several days….

the laughter and fun,

games and sledding,

sleepover and pizza,

enjoying time together…

all the simple joys of life.

So many memories already made in the few short days…

couldn’t ask for a better way to begin this new year.

 

This was shared at Clever Chicks Blog Hop.