New Year Family Extravaganza

Cousins!

 Cousins and grandparents

 Cousins at the capitol

 And then we went to the top of the Capitol and walked around the observation deck, which was gorgeous as ever.

 We climbed lots of stairs, so Dorothy needed a ride back down State Street

 We stopped at Espresso Royale for some hot chocolate

 For some reason, I have exactly ZERO pictures of lunch, but the 13 of us hit the Nitty Gritty downtown, taking advantage of all of the students being home for winter break and of the best cheese curds in town (fight me).

A couple hours after Ben's family went back to the burbs, my mom and Jon and Caleb arrived in Madison, and we went right to work planning a menu for New Year's Eve.  Jon brought Food and Wine, and we made a perfect apple-bacon-bleu-cheese salad (with warm bacon dressing) and the spinach artichoke dip pictured below.  That dip!  You should make it real fast, and use smoked gouda.

 Cheers!  We cheers-ed for 3 days straight.

 On NYE-E, the grown ups went out, and I made an unsettling tights/shoe choice to spice things up.

 This place is adorable, and we only had drinks and apps, but I look forward to a February date night to try the whole menu.

 NYE-E dinner at Lombardino's, a Madison classic.

 There was also lots of time to lounge, of course

 And to take a quick swim at Jon and Caleb's hotel.

 NYE-- all 12 of us hung out and ate all night long.

We started with a cheeseball with sausage and crackers, and veggies, pretzels, and dip at about 6.

At 7:30, we moved on to shrimp cocktails and the artichoke dip with crostini

Around 8:30, we put out brisket sliders (with horseradish cheddar cheese!!) and our amazing salad.

Dessert was at 10 and featured s'mores, a sundae bar,  iced brownies, and fruit with chocolate fondue.

(the kids liked dessert the best)

 A pre-NY toast while the kids played video games (Henry went home, and Dorothy fell asleep)

 They made it, but they all look exhausted:

 And then none of us got dressed or left the couch, and we watched the Rose Bowl  and ate cake and buffalo chicken dip.  SUCH A GOOD START TO 2020!