Welcome to 2009!

We realized last night that this is the final year in the first decade of the new millennium. That's pretty difficult to believe, but time does seem to go by faster with each year of life. For example, I remember when I was in elementary school and the time between Thanksgiving break and winter break was a horrible, tormenting stretch of almost a month! This year, I blinked and went to work and then it was time for Christmas. Now it is the first day of 2009, the year in which at least one of us will be a quarter-century old. The person turning 25 is freaked out. Decency dictates that I not specify which one of us is the "old one".

Last night we celebrated the new year with food and drinks from around the globe, "Around the World New Year's Eve". It was a wonderful night, but the best part was midnight. We obviously didn't get to see the ball drop on television, since we are six hours ahead of the east coast. We got to see something better- fireworks set off by neighbors, people in towns and in fields all along the mountainside and the train track. We saw fireworks going on for miles. It was a beautiful way to start this year.



We wish you all an exciting, fulfilling, and blessed new year. Make the most of it; we plan to do and see all the we can!