New Year, new post.

My goodness, sorry everyone. I've been so caught up in other stuff that by the time the day ends, I just, well, want to get away from the computer.

But I just wanted to pop my head in here and say that we are well, even though the temperature dropped 50 degrees in two days, and now it's raining that nasty kind of rain where every drop is bitter cold.

We had a lovely Christmas here, with our friends Laurie, Grant and Jess. Of course, I took no pictures because I've been sort of spacing on the picture-taking-thing lately. Couldn't tell you why. Very strange. But here are a few from around the day.

The first ornament going up:



The icing on the cake... I mean, the star on the tree (yeah, sure, so it's really a snowflake):



And the finished product (and many thanks to D&T for the deliciously French easel - you can truly call me an ar-teest, now):



We had a very expressive Christmas. This was the look on Al's face:



when he opened this:



And then the cat gave me this look...



... which loosely translates as, "Woman, I'm watching your hand, and if you try to take away my toys to do that silly thing you call a crossword puzzle, you will pay." It's rare these days that I can find a good ballpoint pen in this house. We used to have hundreds.

Gus is well. He's reached that age where he, as Al puts it, is learning to be a cat. As opposed to being the dog he seemed to think he was ("Hey, hey, ya wanna play?! Come on, I can play!? Please pet me! Please feed me! Oh boy, a bird!"), he is becoming more aloof and now is just as happy to sit across the room, staring at us. Also, I am sad to say that he no longer bounces across the room when he runs. But he's still loving and he still follows me almost everywhere I go.

And he still likes his toys:



All in all, we had a lovely holiday, which we wrapped up nicely by lounging around in our new monogrammed robes (and if that isn't the height of luxury... thanks Mama.):



The new year has begun fairly nicely. I have been working on a freelance graphic design project, which has been quite rewarding and good experience. And I made some resolutions, for the first time in years. They're going pretty well.

So, I leave you now with wishes for the very best of years, the happiest of Januaries and a lovely Groundhog Day.