New Year’s Eve in the Hot Tub

This year my parents planned a gala Bringhurst family reunion over New Year’s. Florida narrowly missed being the gathering place, but was eventually superseded by Utah. I’m pretty sure people didn’t take the weather into account when they decided to meet in Utah in the middle of the winter, but three out of five siblings living there ended up being critical mass. And since my kids adore a good plane flight, it worked out great for us too.

My parents rented a huge house near Salt Lake City, and the snowy scene was undeniably beautiful.

Raj, of course, thought that the best thing to do after two years of not seeing snow was to taste it.

Likewise, Axa found the snow no impediment to jumping on the trampoline.

We got to spend time with two adorable little nephews, who are getting a head start on the traditional Bringhurst musicality.

We cooked together,

played silly board games,

and went to see the lights at Temple Square.

Axa and Raj also had a chance to formally present all those tiny gifts that miraculously made it through the security line at the airport with nary a glance from TSA.

My mom is still clearing her house out of stuff from when I was a kid, and this time around she brought me my costume from when we used to go sing madrigals at Renaissance Faires. Ah, the memories.

We also inherited some more legos to add to our massive collection from Tony’s childhood. Here’s the space shuttle I won for guessing the number of legos in a huge lego display at the mall. Raj was properly impressed.

And no family gathering would be complete without a formal family portrait.

Oh, I meant this family portrait (one of a dozen taken by the traditional method of balancing the camera on a stack of books on the couch on a timer). During this photo session the impossibility of getting two babies to look at the camera simultaneously was formally proved. And oops, our stocking feet were showing.

After 33 years, they’ve still got it. In fact, they snuck out and waltzed in the hot tub on New Year’s Eve while everybody else was occupied.

Speaking of the hot tub, 11:59 on December 31st, 2012 found us reveling there with my siblings and our Martinelli’s. Nobody had brought swimsuits, so the reveling was preceded by a D.I. run in which we each snagged some pretty awesome second hand vaguely swimsuitish sportswear.

Happy New Year, and here’s to many more Bringhurst family gatherings!