friends like these

We spent New Year's Eve with a bunch of very special friends.

This gang know how to party.

Piles of crayfish and crisp Pinot-Noir Chardonnay; late night shenanigans; the Brownie Stack before The Ganache; dancing homage to dessert.

And even better than that, they know what to do with a hangover.

Or at least, where to take a hangover.

All of them childless, they've been infinitely forgiving of our baby-rearing years of absence and have seamlessly welcomed our kids as part of the tribe.
They're warm and generous with our children, and gently and naturally they support us as parents when we're with them - carrying an extra bag, buckling one of the girls into the car, putting some sausage on the braai early on to feed the kids, self-initiated gestures of love to us all.

They like our dogs too!

Husband has personal friendships with most of them tracking back to junior school.

Slightly older than me they weren't my besties at school, but they were all there at the beginning of US, they created the context in which we found each other, and spending time with them takes us back there.

We might not see them as much as we'd like (and possibly if we saw them more often we'd not be as fond of each other - we all live very different lives these days), but when we're with them they remind us of the very essence of us.
They were in the front row when we began, they're still happily in the audience today, it's good to start the new year with their claps of encouragement and cheer ringing in our ears.
Good people.