New Year's Day

Happy New Year - a new year, a new decade and a new excuse to set new resolutions and personal goals - I wonder how many of us achieve them?

Thank you so much for the wonderful response to my 7th year Blip anniversary yesterday - such warm and lovely comments, I enjoyed reading each and every one, and am so grateful for your generosity.

Last night we had a fun evening at home - pre dinner champagne with smoked salmon on blini canapés, and a mixture of other snacks. Then on to dinner which Luke and Gavin cooked - a roast gammon with delicious roasted vegetables. I took many family photos as is my tradition at this time of year, and have added an extra of all of us, including Xena photobombing the shot. Although there was no official village fireworks display, people set off their own fireworks. We could watch from the warm kitchen through the window overlooking the village - too far away for the noise to upset Xena but close enough to see the display (added an extra). After midnight when we saw the new year in, all of us went to bed except Tommy who went out with his friends in the village and it was a late one for him.

This morning Luke, my brother and I went skiing while Gavin was on Xena duty - Adam cannot walk her with his painful back and Tommy was too hungover! For some reason the slopes have gone from horribly busy to really quiet since yesterday, so today was lovely - blue skies, sunshine, warm (an unbelievable +9C on the top of the mountain) and very quiet. We had a good time skiing, Luke helping my brother (who has not skied in over 20 years and then has only skied a couple of times). Luke is an excellent instructor, so patient and knowledgeable. 

We came down the mountain in time to see the annual NewYear's Day pig race. It was very crowded and I could not get a clear shot of the pigs racing but before the race I was amused to see one of the pigs trying to eat the GoPro that a reporter had placed on another pig's back.