Happy Birthday Craig! And Happy New Year Everyone Else!

Ahhh - the last post of 2007! What a wild ride this year had been. I think I'll save the yearly review for a later post though and hand this one over to a birthday shout-out to my cousin and good friend Craig. My brother and I were born on the 30th, and Craig on the 31st, so the three of us have a long list of family birthday party memories where we all shared the celebrations. And while we all got along as kids, I don't think we would have thought in a million years that we would be such good friends as adults. I say this all the time, but Hubby and I have always felt extraordinarily lucky that some of our best friends are family. I don't think everyone can say that. Even just a few years ago I would have never guessed that Craig would be such a big part of our lives. We were married a month apart, bought our homes in the same year, found spouses that are great friends for each other, and Hubby and Craig even shared a Bachelor Party in Vegas.

When the whole world celebrates your birthday (since it is New Year's Eve) you can party on a pretty grand scale and as anyone who knows Craig is aware- Craig certainly knows how to party grandly. The Craig partying stories are the stuff of legends. But that is another story for another day. The flip side is of course, that a lot of people forget it is your birthday, or prefer to celebrate in other ways and don't spend it with you. So we have been trying to recognize it appropriately. We will all be ringing in the New Year and singing Happy Birthday simultaneously tonight. I hope you all of your readers have a great time as well!

Here's a small Craig tribute - I just had to throw in one embarrassing kid picture.

In sailor suits our Grandma made us (Craig is on the left):


At Buffet a couple of years ago:


At New Year's last year:


With Hubby at the Playboy club in Vegas:


And Finally with Me and our Friend Timm on my wedding day:

(this photo by Heather Cook Elliott)