Christmas has passed and the New Year is coming

Happy New Year to all!

What a wonderful Christmas we had. It was great to be together. My children are almost grown and gone from the nest so it won't be long before our holidays change BUT not this year, this year we were all together. On Christmas Eve we all went up to the Church to listen to Lynn Thomas' annual Ancient Carol Concert that Hyde Park sponsers. It's always enjoyable. Hayle's boyfriend Trevor joined us. It's just one of those things that we do so if he's going to hang-out with us he better get familiar with our traditions and "strangities" and some things we do are very different. Afterwards we headed back to the house to finish up Hayle's last minute wrapping. I had all of mine done which is unusual. With 'visions of sugarplums dancing in my head' I said goodnight. The kids woke me up at 7:30a and we made our morning Pero, Spence had wassail and we proceeded to the living room where it was apparent that Santa had indeed made his annual visit. Gifts were passed out as we enjoyed our white Christmas.

My kids said I'd be surprised with my gifts and I have to admit that they outdid themselves. No wilted dandelions... instead I opened a box to find a new digi camera! I was thinking about getting a smaller camera to carry with me and this one is perfect! I love it! Then on top of that Spence gave me a little digi photo frame keychain! I love it too! This little gadget replaces wallet photos. I love electronic gadgets and this is great with the new camera. Spence received some new cowboy boots from me and a new headset from his sister. Hayle received a set of bone crochet hooks that she really wanted and some cute knit items. That little cutie on the screen is my youngest grandson Brendan. He's a little hooligan and love him to death. Anyway, we had fun opening gifts.

Later on we had a ham dinner and afterward decided to go to the movies to see Seven Pounds with Will Smith. What a good movie! Very different. I'm not going to say more because I don't want to give anything away. Difinitely worth the admission.

Afterwards the day came to an end with another movie at home and lots more snow.

I took yesterday, Friday, off work and had a truly decadent day. I took Spence down to the shuttle in the morning as he had an afternoon flight to California and I went home to shovel snow. I was ecstatic to find that some kind soul had used a tractor in my driveway to push all of the snow into the yard. What a wonderful gift. I planned to use the couple of hours that I would've used shoveling to read and play with my new toys but instead spent the entire afternoon reading and playing with toys. What a joyous day. I don't know when the last time was that I just "wasted" a day. I don't really consider it wasted but I don't usually take a day just for myself. It was rejuvenating and I think I really needed it. I went to work today invigorated and ready to jump into it. Maybe I should do it more often.

Lynn came down to the shop today to work on her socks and I got back into the bamboo "t-shirt" that I started awhile back. Made some progress on that and then we went to Takara for dinner. Yummy sushi! I really enjoy their chef special.

The new year will be here in just a few days. 2009 is almost here, it's hard to believe. The older I get the faster it goes! I think it's probably time for me to give up soda again... I can't say that I'll completely give it up but I'm giving up the 2-3 times a day refills. It's not good for me so I need to get rid of it. I'm not a health freak by anymeans but it needs to stop so I better enjoy it between now and New Year's Eve because then it ends. Knocking off the sugar and caffeine will be a positive way to start the new year.

So now it's almost 2a and it's time to say good night. I'm not really tired so maybe I'll knit or read for awhile. I have more to say but I think I'll save that for another time. Happy New Year to all and to all a goodnight.