Another Snellings New Year

Every year for as long as I can remember my dad's side of the family has come down after Christmas to spend New Years wither us. My dad's side consists of my Aunt Barbara, Uncle Ken, and Rob who already live down here (about 5 miles from us) and my Aunt Joan, Uncle Ron, Mike, John, Liz, and Liz's husband Joe. Our house gets kind of crowded with 9 of staying here and 3 more coming over, but it's worth it every year! Before everyone got here I got my nails done. They were very deep maroon (looks like black) with silver sparkle tips!

My family (minus Liz and Joe) got here on Wednesday night. We had the traditional Snellings baked ziti dinner and had a very low key night. The next day John and I went to the airport to pick up Liz and Joe. Some people went shopping, I just kind of hung out because of having to take my Cimzia. Cimzia controls my Crohn's Disease and makes me tired on the day I inject it.

On Friday we went to The Buford Highway Farmers' Market. It's not a tradition farmers' market with separate venders booth; it's basically a huge supermarket with world foods - it's like three times the size of a regular super market. My dad wanted to show everyone the German deli. My cousin John studied abroad in Germany and some of our ancestors were German, so my family enjoys what the deli had to offer. My uncle really wanted head cheese. Cheese makes it seem delicious, but it's definition makes it seem..not so delicious (a jellied loaf or sausage made from edible parts of the head, feet, and sometimes the tongue and heart especially of a pig). 


When we got home we had did our other family tradition - poker. Luckily I came out of the game winning 3 dollars! Yay! Buy in was only 5 dollars so it's not a very high stakes game. Later on that night we went to a restaurant called Jim and Nick's. It's a BBQ restaurant that originates in Charleston (or I think it does..).


Saturday was the day of dim sum! I absolutely love dim sum and am glad we got to go with our family. My cousin John's fiance Gloria is from Taiwan so they go to dim sum all the time. John had to ask Gloria the name of his favorite dim sum dish and luckily we had something like it. My favorite items from dim sum are Sui Mai and Sticky Rice. Sui Mai is almost wonton like; it's a mix of shrimp and pork wrapped in a wonton wrapper. Sticky Rice is just what the name says, rice. The rice is steamed in a lotus leaf with a mix of chicken and Chinese sausage. 


Everybody enjoyed the meal, even Joe who is normally not a very adventurous eater. After eating a few of us went to the restaurant supply store where my mom bought an aluminum steamer set. The rest of the day we ate, went to see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, and celebrated the New Year.


The next day the members of our family that traveled down to Georgia left. What I do have to look forward to is 1. The Snellings Biggest Loser Challenge and 2. John and Gloria's wedding.


The Snellings Biggest Loser Challenge is exactly what it sounds like - our take on the biggest loser tv show. It's a 15 dollar buy in and whomever loses the most weigh (in body percentage since that is the only fair way to judge it) wins the money. The challenge ends right before the wedding when we will all be together again. So, by April 19th I hope to have lost a lot of weight.


I hope everyone had a great New Year and that it continues for the rest of the year!
Jessica