Happy New Year

It's a quiet celebration in a ND blizzard for us. It would have been regardless of a blizzard. My husband had to work, so it's just me and my boys tonight. We are snuggled up on the couch with blankets, by our New Years Tree (see below), watching movies, and eating chocolate covered marshmallows & pretzels. We've played 2010 bingo featuring fun/memorable things we've done over the past year. To end the night, we're having a "sleepover" as my boys call it - which is just camping out in the fort that we made in their room earlier today.

Our Christmas tree has given way to a New Years tree.

I don't do the typical New Years Resolution thing. However this year, I'm looking forward to implementing something my dear friends Chuck and Teresa talk about - about living in manual instead of automatic. The idea is intentionality and purposefulness in life. About evaluating life and living it rather that letting life happen to you. The idea of taking every thought captive is a difficult one - but valuable. So I resolve nothing, but ask God for His strength in this endeavor.

On the food front this year, I'm back in the kitchen creating and it feels good. After months of struggling through my son's food allergies and learning how to cook with all different ingredients, I'm starting to find a grove. Also, now that we've got him into the swing of things, the rest of the family takes a more liberties in eating foods that he can't. He's done remarkably well with that... so far.

I'm looking forward to a new year, to see what may come. Our 2010 was a year of change and emotional struggles. It wasn't always pretty, but we are better on this side of the year. God has done great things, even when it didn't seem like it. My prayer for you and your family is that you can same the same thing on the other side of 2011.

Happy New Year friends.