He looks at her, she looks at him, "we survived" they quietly wisper in unison

And this, folks, was what you would have witnessed on the deck of our friends' home at the stroke of midnight 2010, just after having released firecrackers, sparklers and a few silent prayers that Edie, who was sleeping in the room next to the very loud deck, would remain asleep through the hullabaloo. If you're wondering what exactly it was that we survived, I'd suggest that there's some great reading material in our archives from 2009...You can find all of the wonderful details there. I'm going to keep this very short as it's jolly hot here in front of the computer.

We spent our first holiday season in Aus this year, and it was good! Certainly one of the things that has made it so great is the fact that we've been sharing a lot of the holidays with our friend Steph from Canada. Just having another Canuck around that appreciates the same things that we do in this season had been amazing. We cooked a full-on holiday meal together (gluten free, which we weren't sure was possible) just before we left for Maryborough (4 hours north), and it was just what the doctor ordered. Our stay in Maryborough was wonderful and relaxing...we've got some great friends up there who took great care of us and gave us the grand tour of the town which was built heavily around the train industry in Australia. Model trains feature a lot in all of the Chrissy Decos (Aussie-speak for Christmas decorations) in Maryborough. Edie enjoyed all of the festivities and slept really well, making things really easy on mom and dad. We've been meeting with friends over the break for lots of good food and socializing, and we spent New Years up the street with neighbours from all over. I can say with all honesty that this New Years Eve was the best I've experienced yet. I don't know if it was sheer relief that 2009 was finished and we really had survived, or because most of the friends there were new parents too and our kids were all asleep, or because we were just able to relax in good company, or because I've rarely made it to midnight on New Years Eve, but I will look back on this one with fondness.



On behalf of Team Jardine, here's to you and yours with hopes for a great new year.

Laura