Happy New Year!

Happy New Year blogosphere! I know it's a bit late, but I figure that since we're all just getting around to starting work again you probably haven't bothered checking this site for a while anyway. Now that the silly season is behind us it's time to sit back, ease that belt open by a further notch (you know you ate too much too!) and reflect.
This was an unusual Christmas for us. My mother-in-laws partner was knocked of his bicycle by another cyclist and ended up with a fairly serious head injury. Fortunately he's recovering well but it was a shock for everyone. We were buried in snow again...and again...and again...and in fact I've just finished shovelling the latest 15cm fall from the paths outside. We've never had so much of the white stuff!
Hubby was scheduled to come home on December 4th, but of course there was some cock up which meant he couldn't get off the vessel until the 27th by which time all the excitement had calmed down. And through it all I had a stinking cold and just couldn't seem to get enough sleep. At one stage I drove my mother in law to the retirement complex where her partner lives to collect his mail. It's a nice place, with about ten large apartments and the average age of the tenants must be close to 80. I was waiting for her downstairs when I started coughing and couldn't stop. In the end she got me a cup of water from a lovely old lady who lives there and they were all hovering around looking concerned - I was the youngest one there by about 40 years but they seemed to be in better shape than me! The next day I went to the Doctor and discovered I had pneumonia - which explained a lot. A dose of antibiotics seemed to clear it up but it was back a week later, so I'm still popping pills to make sure it's well and truly gone.

This is starting to turn into a bit of a whine so let's move on to the good stuff. The boys and I went and picked out a tree at a local farm, luckily before the first snow fall (little known Dutch tradition; dragging in 10 kg of snow on your tree then watching it melt all over the carpet for the rest of the day).
Christmas morning meant the boys could finally open their presents and at last I - oops I mean they - could play with their spectacularly cool new Star Wars toys. I'd seen the Millenium Falcon on a website months ago. When it arrived the box was HUGE so we had to hide it in the garage all this time. Carl's AT-TE (from the Clone Wars movie for all you fans out there) was only slightly smaller so it's a relief to have some wardrobe space again. Needless to say they boys love these toys- that look on Niels face translates to "hurry up and take your stupid photo so I can play with this NOW".
Despite the snow, family upsets and ongoing pneumonia Christmas was, as always, a lovely time spent focusing on family and friends. Once hubby got home we also did some cool stuff with the kids...but more about that next time.