Christmas Miracles and New Year's Misery

It's been a very busy few weeks, with lots and lots of parties and get-togethers and visits and trips and excitement.  Greg and I spent Christmas Eve (as well as Christmas Day and a few events before Christmas) in New Jersey, and as we drove home around midnight, we experienced a Christmas miracle: a parking spot right in front of our house!  The next morning, as we enjoyed our first Christmas in Mercy Street, we experienced another miracle.  I had made pancakes for breakfast, but completely forgotten to buy syrup.  Not a problem for me, as I like them plain, but definitely a disappointment for Greg.  He ran out to the Rite-Aid around the corner, but alas, no syrup.  As he was walking back, he saw a neighbor and explained what he was doing, and lo and behold, the neighbor took him inside and gave him a brand new, unopened bottle of syrup from the pantry!!  

We spent the week between Christmas and New Year's in Indiana, which was lots of fun.  We played a ton of Yahtzee and some Risk, watched the Colts and the Eagles and Oregon win games, spent some time downtown in my sister's very clean and attractive apartment, and generally relaxed.  Then Andrea joined us for the drive back to Indy.  We drove all day New Year's Eve, then hosted Greg's brother and some of his friends for the ball dropping.  I had a cold, as did one of our guests, and another guest had the stomach flu.  I went to bed by 10.  The next day, we had a birthday party for Dave and went to the Mummer's parade (see pictures).  However, I left early to fetch my sister from a friend's house, where she had also developed the stomach flu and puked about 10 times.  Long story short, we're all hoping the inauspicious start to the New Year means things can only get better!