2008 Begins - Bickersons, Buffy, and Folding Towels

12:00 am

A bright start to a new year, right?

Oh. Yeah.

Fireworks sounding outside, glasses clinking and wishes for a new year joyfully shared inside. The ending to a fun evening.

12:30 am

Kitchen is cleaned up, friends have gone home, girlies are in jammies ... I'm in my jammies. A perfect time to close down the house and begin the new year with a good night's sleep, right?

Oh. Yeah.

12:45 am

Realization has set in that girlies will not be settling down any time soon. I've told you about the Bickersons before, right?

Oh. Yeah.

This time it was the twins ... plus the added bonus of their older sister. The back and forth sensations went something like this:

Oldest one vs. middle one.

Middle one vs youngest one.

Youngest one vs. oldest one.

It was a round robin of laughter and bickering ... one girlie is busy with a Christmas present of scrapbooking - seemingly peaceful, but with small comments egging one or the other of her sisters on. There's another one who is busy replaying (and replaying ... and replaying ... oh! and did I mention replaying?) a single song from the High School Musical 2 to the delight (and I use the word sarcastically) of her oldest sister. Then there is the oldest sister, who has decided on a late night snack and sitting next to me chattering (while I am attempting to pull a moment of quiet around me by reading a few emails & responding) and begging me to make the one stop the constant replays. I suggest other songs. Soon we are replaying all of the songs from HSM2 ... ALL OF THEM. And the bickering resumes.

"She's driving me nuts."

"She won't leave me alone."

"She took my place."

"She's making rude noises."

I won't go on. Let's just say that after an hour of this, exhaustion is setting in and I've decided to take a more active ... ie. assertive ... role in herding the Bickerson's to bed.

However, before I have the strength to do so ... a moment alone is needed.

I head back to my bedroom and begin to fold some towels, enjoying the quiet of my room and the mundane routine of simply folding towels. Unfortunately, I forgot that I have this internal magnet that doesn't attract just one girl, it attracts them all. This magnet works whether I'm in the kitchen, the living room, the bedroom, or the bathroom. Ah ... the joys!

Shortly after a couple of towels are folded, one girlie arrives and plunks herself behind me on the bed. Another towel, another girlie arrives singing along with a song on her MP3 player. This is always interesting, because ... of course ... all those around are hearing is the sound of her voice, not the background music. This particular song is a popular one at our house ... it is a song from that critically acclaimed, wildly popular show - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Musical. My girlies know the episode and music by heart and now, they have the songs on their MP3 players.

Another towel and enter the third girlie, who ... upon hearing what her sister is singing ... doesn't just chime in, but goes to get her MP3 player so they can time it to listen and sing at the same time.

My new year began with friends ... had a bout of The Bickersons ... and soon became a seranade of "I've Got a Feeling" (without background music) by my three girlies as I folded towels and realized it was almost two in the morning.

2008 ... It began with the end of a party and the continuation of our every day life - the Bickersons, Buffy, and folding towels. More than that it began with all of us being healthy and happy.

What better way to begin?