spent a bit of time on New Year’s Eve prepping for our traditional New Year’s Day dinner…

while the kids were out, I began setting the table, and finished it early on New Year’s Day… decided on a silver and purple theme and had some fun finding decorations and napkins that would go well together…

there were just enough leftover Christmas crackers for everyone to get one and we read jokes, but did not put on any paper hats, lol… we can just squeeze around the table when there are eight of us and I have to push it up to the window so that everyone can get in… the table can expand further, the problem is that the dining room can’t…

while the steak and lobster tails finished thawing I prepped the potatoes for baking, cut up the Brussels sprouts, sliced the mushrooms and prepared the sauce for the escargot stuffed mushrooms…

once the kids arrived the sons-in-law looked after barbecuing the steaks and lobster… finished up a Caesar salad and the melted butter pots…

everyone had a taste of champagne or sparkling cider and we enjoyed a delicious dinner… we aren’t going to talk about the slightly overcooked Brussels sprouts, sigh…

we were all worn out so we ended the evening with a short visit and the Winnipeg kids headed home…

a bit of reading and visiting and we all headed to bed…

lovely start to the new year…