Happy New Year

Ah, where to begin? It's just past New Years Day so let me wish all of you a happy, wealthy and -- dare I say it? -- prosperous new year. Like everyone else, my pension account took about a 20% hit so I guess we won't be going to Hawaii this year. :-)

In other areas, it was a pretty good year. Cathy got certified in a whole bunch of things, so she's pretty close to being certifiable. (Just kidding!!). And I got a bunch of master points in bridge. Not enough challenge my sister-the-bridge-maven, but enough for me. :-)

I have lots of pictures for you, starting with Thanksgiving. (My, I am behind, aren't I!)

We had Bill & Drew and niece Wendy over for dinner. Here are a few pictures.


To celebrate not having to work on Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Years Day for the first time in 11 years, Cathy made Christmas dinner for us, Steve, Wendy and Wendy's housemate, MingZhu. The photos show some of our (really Cathy's!) decorations.



Cathy had been given a Chinese bowl -- perhaps brass - by Joanne and Sturge and it had some Chinese writing on the bottom. MingZhu read it as Ming Dynasty, 1429!!

And we had a "Lucky Strike Extra" visit from Sara and Alan over Cathy's birthday. She made dinner (so what else is new?) and Bill and Drew came to visit their niece.



While they were here, Alan, Cathy and Sara went to a children's museum in Cherry Hill and we also lighted the menorah! And Sara got new shoes, too.



In sports, I'm looking forward to seeing just how far the Eagles can go in the post-season. It was a shame that the Patriots didn't get into the playoffs but they did that to themselves. The Celtics are having another great year and the Bruins are a happy surprise. I'm glad that Mark Texeira didn't sign with the Red Sox because I believe that (a) Kevin Youkilis will have another great year and (b) Mike Lowell will come back from his injuries to provide another steady performance.

Ta ta!!