Barhorst Brewed: December 28-January 4

04 January 2026

December 28-January 4

I'm just going to pretend I didn't take a two (five) year hiatus...

The kids love the blog books and want to keep reading about themselves even as they get bigger. If you want to leave a comment, saying something on the actual post rather than on the discord server is preferred because when I do eventually turn these into blog books I like to print the comments as well. If that is prohibitively inconvenient to you, discord commentary is acceptable.

We had a lot of visitors this week. Josef and family came in last Friday, Jillian arrived late Friday/early Saturday, Jacque et al joined the party mid afternoon on Saturday, and the Bossards rolled in just after lunch on Monday. Josef and Angelina actually had to leave on Sunday (before the Bossards arrived), but it was nice to get to see everyone in little groups. Smiths and Bossards stayed until the 1st and our family spent the rest of that day decompressing.

All the cousins seemed to get along well. Jacque's kids are becoming more comfortable here, so Julian and Samuel jumped right in and Lenore spent some time near the end happily existing in not-the-same-room as her parents. William and Olivia were the Lenore whisperers, displaying enough calm patience and persistence to win her affection. Gretchen managed to accidentally invent a game where Lenore would happily high five Olivia, but then equally happily NOT high five Gretchen. The girls wanted to get it on video, but I don't think they managed that feat. Margaret and Lenore were good buddies and amused us with their adorable two-year-old antics.

Many games were played at our dining room table, many meals were eaten in our sunroom and living room (because our table was full of games). A package of shrinky dinks was opened, decorated, and shrunk. Living room workouts were de rigueur. Video games were enjoyed, the hot tub was used, bread was baked, cookies were consumed. The kitchen was closed to all between-meal requests, but we did provide vegetables -- Justine and I are not total despots. We did go through 7 pounds of carrots in one day after discovering on a previous day that carrots were the most popular vegetable by far (followed, in order, by peppers, mushrooms, and finally broccoli). We took two cousin line-ups, one with the Barhorst, Smiths, and Fentons, and the second with the Barhorsts, Bossards, and Smiths. If I recall correctly, the latter is less of a line-up and more of a mix-up, much to the chagrin of some of the more orderly older children.

New Year's Eve was an event, with several different countdowns. Bossards and Smiths were here, and our friends the Miroglios joined us, as well as Bryan's brother, Brad, and his family. We counted down and celebrated at 7 pm (midnight by Greenwich Mean Time, which felt exceedingly appropriate). But we forgot the kid champagne, so we counted down again at 8 pm and the kids clinked glasses. Adults thought we might make it to midnight -- hah -- but then gave up and had our champagne at... 9:31. We were aiming for 9:30 because Justine said someone was celebrating then. I don't remember which country, and we missed anyway because we were too slow with the champagne. I went to bed right after that. Bryan committed to staying up, as did Olivia, Gretchen, Kaitlyn, and Matthias. Bryan's brother and sister-in-law, Brad and Shantelle, were here and made it to midnight as well. Welcoming the New Year with the most joy and alertness was Brad and Shanelle's 17-month-old, Lincoln.

These last couple of days have been calm and lazy. We are not ready for school and activities to start back up tomorrow. Gretchen had a basketball game on Saturday. Matthias went to Fort Wayne to play laser tag with some friends. Kaitlyn, Olivia, and Theo entertained themselves around the house. I went for a run and finished my grades and decided that this is the year I resurrect the blog. Fingers crossed.

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