Ringing In 2010

I have been a little slow posting blog entries but we have been very busy with all the holiday festivities and spending some good family time together while David has been on vacation. We obviously made it home safe and sound from Indiana. We got home on the 30th. There is no place like home yet, home wasn't quite the same without our sweet little Packard there to greet us (and she always used to be the first at the door to welcome us home).

New Years Eve was pretty uneventful. We spent the majority of the day having our furnace replaced. This is something we knew we would need to do when we bought our house but we wanted to get the purchase in during 2009 in order to take advantage of both tax credits and rebates. Nothing like waiting until the last minute, right?

We also wanted to have Madeline celebrate the New Year but we had no desire to keep her up until midnight so....she celebrated at 9:15. I probably could've reset our clocks to make-believe it was midnight but that would just mean that I would have to set them back to the correct time. At her age I didn't think that I needed to be that elaborate but maybe next year. Yet, if she goes to school thinking that a new day starts at 9:15pm, you'll know why. Anyway, the three of us had a blast with the noisemakers and I even pulled out the pots and pans to bang on for added measure. After Madeline was fast asleep, David and I had an ever so exciting New Year watching the ball drop on TV. We did however, hop into the hot tub for an early 2010 dip yet, for the most part our celebration was quite.

Our first company of the New Year was my sister, Marysia's family from the Baltimore area. Marysia was in town visiting her in-laws (who also live in the Buffalo area) after Christmas. I was happy that we were able to meet up after we came home from Indiana but before they left Buffalo. Marysia, her husband Mike, and their children Tommy, Lauren, Andy and Julie stopped by late in the afternoon. We spent time snacking on munchies while the guys watched football. Later we had dinner in yes, you guessed it, my still unfinished (oh well) dining room. I cooked up a batch of breaded pork chops, apple sauce, au gratin potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli and a pumpkin cream cheese roll and some of Marysia's Christmas cookies for dessert. After putting Madeline to bed the rest of us played our new game, Cranium, that we got for Christmas. (Paul, I put that game on my wish list after your visit) We had a bunch of fun and loads of laughs playing the game until 1:30am!

Yesterday, it began snowing while Marysia's family was visiting and it pretty much snowed the rest of the night. Today we slept in and had a leisure-filled day however, the driveway and sidewalk did need to be shoveled. The three of us bundled up to head out into the snow. Madeline loved jumping around in the white fluffy stuff but I think she still wished it was summer as she dragged out her tricycle and scooter into the driveway. We also took Madeline's sled and played for a while on the snow pile that was deposited in the center of the cul-de-sac by the snow plow as it plowed the circle. Yet, just as I was always the first to want to go inside from the snow and cold when I was a child, I was also the first one to whine about being cold and wanting to go inside today. I tried to make up for my wimpy-ness by making some hot cocoa for when David and Madeline came inside to defrost. Tonight the weather is about 10 degrees and I am not feeling like braving the weather to go into the hot tub. Instead, here I sit snug as a bug wearing my flannel pj's, fuzzy socks, my favorite cozy down throw that I got from a former student, fireplace on, glass of wine, sitting on the couch with my laptop while David is engrossed in a "man-movie" (Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers).......ugh, it will suck on Monday when David is back to work and we are back to the grind! But, for now I will enjoy the afterglow of the holidays and the last few moments that we have David to ourselves!