It’s now 3:30 AM .. and there are still 20 or so folks in the house. Theres music coming from down below.. but I’m too sleepy to go down and listen.. The day started so long ago… We were all pretty lazy throuh the day.. in a nice  sleepy sort of way.

Diane, Chai and I did manage to get out for a really nice snowshoe in this wonderful powder…

We checekd in on our ‘bird tree’.. Nearly all of the food we’d put on it had already been eaten…

The rest of the day was nice and slow.. The high point was Max coming downstaires after his freind Emma had straightened his hair..

Gabe spent the afternoon up at the mountain.. but was ready to coem down by about 6:30…

Around 8:30 Diane and I picked up Deb and Hannah and went up to Bolton to watch the  the fireworks.. There were lots of our friends up there.

The fireworks started on time at 9. They were pretty spectacular.. it was a small but appreciative crowd.. there were some of the coolest ‘shaped’ burst I’d ever seen.. they even had one that blew up into a happy face.  

I love watching the fireworks up here.. I can think of many times we’ve had the family up here to see them..  They made me think of Sam

When I came home I was feeling pretty sad… I needed to go send a few minutes in Sam’s room. that’s just what I needed.

I spent some time looking at Sam’s artwork.. here’s one I hadn’t really looked at much before.   I like it !

I also spent time look at .. and talking to.. the many pictures in the room.. Here’s one from the mid 2006…   I can connect to myself at the moment this  picture. was taken. . I knew how lucky I was.. I’m glad that I can say that.

Around 10:30 I drove out to pick up Gabe and some friends..  As it got closer to midnight, we all decided to stay here rather than venture out…. I found a place to watch the ball drop in Time Square.   we did the whole 10… 9.. 8… 7… thing.. it was fun..

We toasted the new year with sparkling lemonade…

And lit our candle to invite Sam to be part of the celebration.

The next few hours went as most of our parties.. it was 98% kids.. some in Sam’s room playing video games.. some in other parts of the house talking.. some downstairs playing music.   It wasn’t a big crowd.. but it was a nice crowd..

Just before I came up to bed at 3.. I looked at Chai and saw that she was getting tired too…