New Year's Eve fun..

New Year's Eve was a mellow affair, attended by some of the usual suspects: my parents, our neighbors Lydie & Denis, friends Eric & Catherine, Alain's dad & his new girlfriend. Here we are having appetizers at the bar. (The kids are upstairs with their 2 friends on the computers, and I'm afraid they weren't in any of the group shots that evening! They did, however, come down to eat at some point..I think)

Oysters are a holiday tradition over here, so here is Alain on oyster-shucking duty in the kitchen..

One of my goals in life has been to get my parents to like oysters, so whenever they're in France at Christmas-time, they oblige me by tasting a few..

..and I think it's starting to grow on them..

At some point during the evening (presumably after several glasses of wine), we decided it would be fun to dress my dad up in the traditional Arab garb that Alain received as a gift when he went to Saudi Arabia on business last September..

..as you can see, my dad went along willingly..

..and even looked quite proud (although in my opinion, not very Arab!)

Of course there was no way Luis was going to let my dad get all the glory, so he ran next door to get his own outfit (acquired during a recent trip to Egypt), and posed for the camera as well..

The evening ended with a delicious dessert, courtesy of my mom: red velvet cupcakes!

Happy New Year!!