We enjoyed last evening up at Jeannie's - her prime rib turned out perfect, though she was distressed about the mishap with the 'au jus'. (Molly and Lucy, however, were thrilled... and more than happy to help clean up when the gravy boat broke and juice spilled everywhere.) 

Instead of Mexican Train after dinner we played Sequence, then later moved on to poker.  I planned to play (Jeannie even made up a helpful cheat sheet for me) but once Keith joined the group he made it a very serious game and I decided to 'bow out gracefully'.  

Which was really fine, because even though I had brought along a little pillow as a lumbar support (in addition to my thermorest), her tall chairs are not at all comfortable for a short person like me.  After sitting in one for several hours it felt much better to stretch out in one of the recliners, where I watched the ball fall in NY's Time Square.  

The party broke up at eleven since Donna and Tony wanted to be back in Surprise before the drunks hit the road after midnight, and Cheri and Bob felt the same about making it home to Anthem. (I was not at all unhappy that our 'commute' home was only a block.)

  Since I had (wisely) imbibed a cup of coffee before we headed over at 6:00 (otherwise I figured I would start to droop early in the evening, as per my usual) I was still pretty wide awake.  So I read until after midnight, a great way to ring in the new year.

This morning, while drinking my coffee, I opened up my Project 2015 jar and read about the good things that happened to me during this past year.  (I did sort of let that project fall by the wayside halfway through the year, but am doing it again for 2016; this time I plan to fill the jar all the way to the brim with scraps of paper chronicling the good things that happen.)  Naturally I had forgotten some of them, like when I scored a personal best of 103 points on a Scrabble move, made possible in part by using the Q on a triple word, plus using all 7 of my tiles in a move, a first for me.  (Wish I'd noted what the word was, though.  Next time!)

Then I started making turkey soup (which I meant to do on Wednesday - but forgot), and which is already wafting a splendid aroma through the house.  While I was working on that, Verle and Mary Sue stopped by (on their way from Oklahoma to Quartzsite) to tour the museum, and enjoyed a post-breakfast snack of fresh grapefruit off our tree. (Note to Marilyn: It's a sweet, tasty crop again this year, just like always!)

There's nothing officially on the agenda for today, so I am going to start off the New Year 

by working on Andy and Sandy's Chanukah, Christmas, New Year's gifts!