It has been pointed out to me recently (hi, Meagan!) that I have become a slacker blogger. This is in part due to to my focus on Facebook and Twitter and the fact that we have been busy entertaining family and doing the holiday hokey pokey. I know, lame excuses all. Oh, and also because I have just been lazy. So my New Year’s resolution will be to post to the blog at least once a week. We’ll see how long THAT lasts!

We really have been busy this past month. Two weekends ago we had three parties in three days (for some folks this may not seem like that big a deal but to me it’s a record). We also ran a 10K race in the pouring rain and I placed first in my age group (yay, me!) and Chuck, uh, didn’t finish last! He also managed to loseWeight Exercise his Garmin 305 which deeply saddened him. My sister and brother-in-law arrived last Friday and we spent a fun week visiting with them and doing things that we never seem to make time to do when it’s just us (we finally made it to the newly remodeled Getty Villa and also went to the Petersen Automotive Museum). We had a bunch of people over and did a Naples gondola ride and wrapped things up with a big Christmas Eve dinner with family and friends. Louise and Tony flew home Christmas Day and we went spent the evening with friends. Yesterday was our official decompression day in which we chilled and did almost nothing. Pics of our adventures are here.

Today we’re getting back into gear, taking down the Christmas tree and taking advantage of post-holiday sales to shop for Christmas decorations. Chuck did a fabulous job with the lights this year, but feels that he needs, among other things, a sleigh and/or more reindeer for the front yard and more lights for the back. We became the place to see on the block, with lots of folks coming to stand in front and revel in the glory that is Chuck’s Christmas light extravaganza. Pics of our lights (and other lights) are here.

The other thing we did (for better or worse) this month was to watch TV coverage of the Hawaii Ironman (that’s the Big Kahuna of triathlons that is comprised of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run). It inspired us both to train harder this coming year and set tougher goals for ourselves. In that spirit I gave Chuck a new Garmin 305 for Christmas to replace the one he lost at the 10K we ran two weeks ago and we’ve been doing at least one long run a week, and generally gearing up for the Paris Marathon in April.

So that was December. Reflecting on the year that was 2009, all I can really say to sum it up is, “Phew!” I just reread my last post of 2008, and chuckled as I read the words “as I thumb my nose to the year that was and bid a far from fond farewell to the pile of crap year that was 2008…” I’m glad that I couldn’t see into the future last Dec 31 and know how hard 2009 was going to be. Cancer and chemo, the realities the treatment and aftermath bring, and the struggle back to some sense of normal presented challenges the likes of which I have never before faced. I’m older and wiser now so I’m not going to go calling 2009 a pile of crap because there may come a time in our lives where we’ll look back at 2009 and think, “Hey, that was a pretty awesome year, all in all!” The thing is, you just never know, so seize all the precious moments you can and always, always, remember to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you. I think I’ll let Chuck close this post with some of his wise words from the year’s Christmas letter:

Some final thoughts on this past year. Family is everything. Don’t waste time being mad about things that happened in the past. Life is too short to dwell on the bad stuff, just move on to the good. Don’t spend too much time worrying about one thing or another (the small stuff), stop and enjoy what you have. It’s not the big things that make me happy, it’s the little ones. Connecting with others has been part of my cure. Some people were amazed at how open I was about the whole thing, but I can’t imagine keeping it all bottled up. Everyone who listened took some of the Lose Weight Exercise off my shoulders.

So from both of us: happy new year everyone – make 2010 a year that counts! Where you are right now, you’ll only be there for a moment so savor it! There’s a reason for the world: you and I.