the rapture, new year's and poker...

new year's is a fragile time of year for parents of small children, you still very clearly remember the years that you partied like a rockstar...except in my case.

the memories most vivid to me are those of my childhood new year's. there was always a big potluck dinner at the church which was followed by like hours of "praying in the new year", this year for sure was the year our lord would probably return. this sort of talk always scared the bejesus out of me. and then on the way home you could hear the fireworks going off, surely this was just the beginning of the end of the world. god i hope i'm raptured....(sing a chorus- i wish we'd all been ready) *

so last night was a far cry from the old potluck days. we had some friends over to chill and watch movies. these are dear friends because they do not have children, they could be partying like rock stars....such kindness, i'll never understand it. sometimes i want to say, "ummm, are you sure you don't want to go out, it's NEW YEAR'S for gods'sake, do it. seriously man."
but the selfish bastard in me doesn't say a word because they make things so much more fun for a housebound girl like myself.

i anticipated a night of proselytizing garden state and a kiss at midnight from my true love but aaron had a different idea. he brought poker chips, need i say more?
you have to know i LOVE card games, except they make me a little crazy, like certifiable. a new level of cursing, a competitive monster, the intensity dialed up a few notches...all of this might i add, not so cool in poker. but i have always wanted to play so i was very excited. you know everyone was making fun of me writing down what beats what (a cheat sheet of sorts), but that little sheet got passed around quite a bit. and at the end of the night jorge and i were like a million dollars richer in pretend money, we kicked ass for first timers.

so this might be my new obsession. the same group of people are coming over next week for jack's second birthday, which i think has also just become a poker night. my sisters hopefully will be there, even better...the kids always disappear anyway. unless, of course, our lord returns first.

*none of this will make any sense if you did not grow up in evangelical christian world