the first

The first day of the New Year
Which means the first dinner of the New Year.
Which means the first dinner we host each year.
And this was the first New Years dinner we hosted in our new home here in Nashville.

You may remember how down I was about the whole thing this year.
After 2007, 2008,2009 and 2010, we were starting over. Again. From scratch. This time with no one who had been a part of our New Year celebration for years.

Instead, we had two new families with us; the Daniels family that we moved down here "with" as well as a family from Sawyer's preschool that we've hung out with a few times. And dinner was fabulous, if I do say so myself. Even though it was a smaller affair, the house felt full (6 little boys running around probably didn't help that at all, right?) and the food was yummy and we so enjoyed celebrating the start of a new year with new friends.
I'm so glad we decided to go ahead and do the dinner as tradition. Even if it was only us in on the tradition.

I feel like it turned out to be especially fitting to celebrate with these families as they both are seeing the end of a long year as well... The Harkins moved here just over a year ago and are just a few steps ahead of us in the feeling at home and settled in Nashville aspects, and The Daniels, obviously, have been on pretty much the same road we have. We all had a lot to be thankful for in the past year and in our journey here, but are very much looking forward to the New Year and all it may bring.

Of course, I snapped a few pics of the table before we sat down, and only one during the actual people part of the party. Typical.
I didn't even get a group picture this year.
Oh well.

Table set (adult table anyway):











































A Lot of candles...
(all the silver and glass candle holders and mason jars I own, plus a couple more picked up at the $ store)






























The kids all got to decorate a (plastic) goblet of their own with stickers and sparklies:


































The menu:















Desserts after they've been dug into:















We made fortune cookies with resolutions inside...






























And a quick one of the group after dinner just before we broke into the Peppermint Pig:















Thanks for joining us guys. Thanks for making our first New Years in Nashville a real celebration. We truly enjoyed starting off what promises to be a great year with such a great gathering. Happy New Year!