The First Post of 2017

The new year came in with a whisper at Casa de Chelle; Mom came down with a nasty bug last week and we spent New Year's Eve morning in urgent care, where she was prescribed antibiotics. That evening, she was in no shape to party with the rest of us, and, by the rest of us, I mean, Hugh, Chris, Jana, and myself; the kids have officially declared their independence and they were all off in their own directions.

So, we celebrated by snacking, consuming about a drink and a half, each, and, shooting off the last of Hugh's confiscated stash of illegal fireworks (he made that stash stretch for years, let me tell you). The fact that we set them off at 10:30 is not important.

I was in bed and tooling around dreamland well before the ball dropped, and, I don't regret it a bit; my goal for 2017 is to pay attention to my needs, my need for rest being high up on the priority list.

New Year's Day was spent in a whirlwind of preparation for our annual sledding trip. The kids did grace us with their presence for that, although, as Jana and I discussed, we were probably looking at the last year that it will happen. It's just becoming too difficult to reign everyone in, and, with both Queen B and Kaley working at actual jobs and with Darren and the Man-Cub graduating and heading off into the unknown, we will be lucky to have them all together again anytime soon.

So, 2017 started off with some hard reality as well as with the bittersweet enjoyment of an activity that has brought us so much joy over the years.