plague.

West Coast Daycare Plague: 2
Aunt Luckdragon: 0

Little V gave me the stomach flu for Christmas. I spent all of Christmas Eve being sick, and had to miss the candlelight service at a local church, which has been a family tradition since I was ten, and which I was super excited for, having been out of state the past four years. Fortunately it was over by the next morning, but I still felt terrible, so stayed home by myself and skipped the extended family Christmas too. E surprised me with Vernor's ginger ale, made me soup, and kept me company for a while, which was awesome. The family didn't open presents til Wednesday afternoon, by which time I'd caught Round Two: Upper Respiratory Virus. And I still have it. Blargh.

That Little V is the cutest germ factory you ever saw, lol.

Sickness aside, it was a pretty great Christmas, though. The cake balls did indeed get made, and were greatly enjoyed:

The snowmen were much loved, and everyone gave and received some great presents! My sister, K, got me a pair of orange low-top Converse, and I can't wait to wear them! E got me a small cast-iron skillet, and the cast-iron corn stick pan I wanted...and I got her the small oval cast-iron skillet she wanted (E: "For pancakes!" Me: "Or a fish! It's fish-shaped!"). The first Christmas is cast-iron, right? *wink* And my light-up gingerbread village is growing....

 On Christmas Eve, we got just enough snow to make it a White Christmas, and on Wednesday we got about 5" more. And it stayed! It's still very Christmas-y outside, and we're thinking about going sledding this weekend if it sticks til then.

So. New Year's Eve.

Pretty much everyone I know is staying in this year. E and I are having a couple friends over to her place. I bought a bottle of champagne, and we're just going to watch movies and hang out - and, of course, watch the ball drop on TV.

I can't believe a year went by so fast.

It was wild, rough, beautiful, hard, and shining.

The highlights:

Little V.  Showering at MWMF under a sunny sky. Seeing sea stars for the first time. Maple Bacon Bars. Catching a rainbow at the upper pool of Multnomah Falls. Partly-cloudy hot chocolate. Finding out Salem has a carousel. Growing my own Cherokee Purple tomatoes. E taking me to DLectricity - an art festival in Detroit. Agate hunting on the Oregon coast. Camping en route to MI.

And, of course, reuniting with E. That alone makes 2012 hard to beat! But I know that 2013 has even more amazing things in store: More clients. More debt reduction. Abundance. A trip to Boston. The Warrior Dash. Gardening, loving, yarning, and love, love, love!

Happy Happy Happy New Year!