Happy Belated New Year

I think I got a bit too used to the relaxation over my week-and-a-half away from work, and am not only having trouble getting back into the swing of things at the office, but have also really neglected the blog. But... here I am.

Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day and the day after with Jarrett's family was very enjoyable. Everything stayed relatively low key this year, and it was wonderful catching up with everyone and eating way, way too much food (that's what the holidays are for, right?). Jarrett and I stayed in High Point until Friday, and then Stephen left with us (following behind in his truck) to head back to Atlanta, making a stop in Salisbury to see their Grandmom Helms, and then stopping for lunch with my parents in Charlotte and to pick up Merckx.

Stephen stayed in Atlanta until this past Saturday morning, and it was great having him around. We ate out way too much, had many good laughs, watched movies, and went climbing. He was also around for our New Year's Eve party, which was a success, although very different from past parties, being that we had a toddler and a baby around, as well as a pregnant lady. Needless to say, the alcohol consumption was down, but the energy was still up. We had a lot of fun, and the dinner (and the yummy desserts everyone brought) turned out to be quite delicious. We had a cheese plate and spinach, leek, and feta triangles to start; Jarrett grilled pork loin; and I made buttermilk mashed potatoes with leeks and chives, and asparagus with portobello mushrooms and goat cheese. For dessert, Adria brought her famous chocolate cookies with a peanut butter cup center, Alison brought a delicious chocolate bundt cake, Natali brought a fabulous chocolate cake, and Shelly brought an impressive raspberry trifle.

Kate and Tim arrived back at our house on Saturday evening, and it sounds like they had a wonderful time in Nepal (though we still haven't had a chance to see their photos!). They close on their house today, which is very exciting for them -- and for us, since they'll still be so close once they move -- and take possession of it on Friday afternoon. Merckx has his friend, Timber, back for the time being, and they've been wearing each other out on a daily basis.

With the new year, there are, of course, new resolutions, but I can't share them with you right now -- not until we read them aloud at our New Year's party next year. We have a tradition of reading the past year's resolutions aloud and stating whether we met those goals. So I guess I can tell you my resolutions from last year:

• Try indoor rock climbing -- I did this, and I love it. I just wish I could afford to do it more often!
• Get in shape and stay in shape (seriously) -- I did work out a decent amount, and Jarrett and I joined the YMCA toward the end of the year, but I tend to work out in spurts, and can never really seem to attain this goal. So, no, I didn't really accomplish this one.
• Try to be a more gracious person (ha) -- This one makes it onto the list nearly every year now. You can always keep trying, right?

A goal that Jarrett and I also have (aside from resolutions) is to purge our entire house. I think we're both looking forward to this, although I already know it's going to be a challenge for me to part with those things that I just might find a use for sometime down the road or those that just really mean something to me. I'm going to try my best, though, and this is something that we're going to try to jump on soon.

Anyway, happy new year to you all!

Oh -- and as a side note -- if you haven't yet seen Juno, GO SEE IT! Jarrett and I saw it on Saturday afternoon, and both thought it was excellent.