2011 in Review from Cracker and Cheese on Vimeo.

Since we are already a month into 2012, it’s time for us to review what happened in 2011! Totally makes sense, doesn’t it?

As everyone knows, the holidays are rough, you are constantly on the go, no time to breathe and stress and anxiety courses through your veins for 6 weeks until the new year rolls around. What have we been doing for the past month and a half? Why, we’ve been hiding under a rock, waiting for the holidays to roll by before emerging, unscathed. Just kidding, we were in the trenches and have the scars to prove it.

Thanksgiving weekend, the start of the holiday season. I kick it off with the girls’ pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving and I love it. It’s a great way for all of us to gear up for a month of gluttony. It was different this year, we had it in a new house and we did have a guy attend (but he is the exception, he is too young to play poker). Then on Thanksgiving, it was the Ameristar Thanksgiving buffet. Excellent dinner and not too bad with the lines for turkey. That evening, we then went to another Thanksgiving to pick up Ben, who apparently was wiped from all the tryptophan:

Rough life, isn’t it, kid? To be snuggled with and loved on all night.

Saturday night was round two of the turkey-eatin’, Ben-lovin’ extravaganza. There was more food and more baby-holding. We even got to meet the newest addition to the Menkhus clan:

December took off like a bat out of hell. It was go, go, go and we never looked back. You would think that having a child would slow us down, nope. Instead, we are even more exhausted, more cranky and more stressed than ever before. Time management was not on our side. We went out to dinner for Bob’s birthday, celebrated another friend’s birthday, went to the Peimanns’ annual Ugly Sweater Party (with a sweater I found that night), had the Sherron Christmas party to attend and made sure Ben had his first photo with Santa:

And here’s the kicker, we hosted Christmas this year with Bob’s side of the family! Talk about one ball of stress for me! Can you imagine? Cleaning a house for a party? It’s a struggle for me to clean even when I didn’t have a baby. But it all worked out. The Sam’s ham was wonderful, everyone brought a dish, it worked out perfectly. And I think we are going to start a new tradition:

So, in a nutshell, time flew by so quickly and now I just need to take some time and sleep for 3 days straight.

One of my fondest memories was playing games with my dad in the evenings after work. Many summer nights, we’d play catch in the backyard, but if the weather didn’t cooperate, we’d often head to the basement and play ping pong. Now, nobody wins in a game of catch. Ping pong, on the other hand is a different story. My dad taught me how to lose graciously for many years. When I finally did beat him it was the best feeling in the world.

Last month, I had the opportunity to pick up a used foosball table from a friend who was about to move. My dad came over and helped me put it together and we played a few games for old times sake. I’m still working on teaching Benjamin good sportsmanship — right now he just cries like a baby when I demolish him 10-0. But more than anything, I’m looking forward to the time when he beats me at my own game.

I just hope it isn’t too soon.