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The holidays were very busy time for us. I’ve been working through a number of pre-holiday projects putting up new shelves to finish the Living Room, trimming out and painting the TV room – but the finished look was worth it.

There wasn’t a lot of shopping heading towards Christmas – Emma and I keep the presents low-key so its make it more a time of family and love (and cookies!) than any big consumer spend-fest.

We’d made plans for my Dad to came over Christmas Day, and we fixed a classic dinner with turkey and ham and all the sides … then the next morning we headed to Richmond to be with Emma’s family.
Her dad is a Methodist Minister, retired after 50 years in the pulpit!
This fall Emma’s mom was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis – basically,
her lungs are failing. Its a slow slide downward – but they’ve
already signed the living will and have contacted the hospice folks.
They live across the street from her sister – which is a lot better than when they lived in Roanoke, nearly 5 hours away.
Anyway we travelled to see them, and to give her sister some well earned time-off. We zipped down there again after work Weds to be with them on New Year’s eve. We came back late New Years Day – and I was looking forward to relaxed weekend. Weather forecasts were calling for warm days in the 60s! I had visions of pulling the bike out of the shed for some New Year riding – but instead I came down with the flu, and stayed indoors all weekend – congested and sneezing and miserable. Yuck ….