We went up to the Hedges farm for a spectacular New Years celebration. The four of us brought the pizza after work on Monday. Teddy had a big fire going. The kids were given half the house and the adults took the other half. Both sides turned loose.

In attendance were:

Nancy, Ted, Shawn, and Brittany Regan.

Bennett, Alice, Taylor, and Robert Butker. Robert had a burping, black cabbage patch doll in tow. A gift from his Grandmother Judy. Bennett had a bottle of Old Taylor Burbon in tow.

Kathy, Mike, Todd, and Sara Holsey.

Frank, Stephanie, and Lauren.

Laura, sister of Nancy, recently divorced, without kids. She laughed all night.

Glen, Marsha, Chris, and two other girls from Ted’s company. Glen also laughed all night. He and Laura had been set up for a test run.

That’s The four of us + 4 + 4 + 4 + 3 + 1 + 5 = 25! Only 7 of those were kids. Seemed like more than that at the time. Guess that’s about even.

The long evening included: charades, brownies, triveal pursuits, thumper and fuzzy duck, religious debate, burning pizza boxes, and target practice.

Kathy and I stayed up the latest. 4 a.m. We woke up with little kids standing over us arguing about whether or not they could wake us up.

Bennett and Mike seemed to suffer the most as they sat staring on the couch for several hours in the morning.

Bennett took Kathy, me, Alice, Danny, Nicole, Robert, and Tayler in his Suburu’Ranger down to the river to shoot Alice’s .22 caliber Baretta.

Kathy and I took six shots at a stump in the river. And Danny took one shot with Bennett’s help. The stump still stands.