I've always loved this time of the year. As a northern educator I've felt especially blessed with a holiday scheduled for the end of December. Whoever scheduled Christmas must have known of the need for relaxation and fun at this time of the year. The end of November and early December with the shortening daylight increasing cold and resulting challenges to both the psyche and physiology can be brutal. Three cheers for the glutony of Christmas... fun and games (especially in small northern communities) food, music, sleep and freedom to do what you like (I know there are limits and stresses over holiday time too but these are mostly self inflicted). I've just been looking at a friends photos of games in Arctic Bay on New Year's day (facebook) and its brought back wonderful memories... thanks Niore!

This year,for me, the holiday has not been as attached to the need for R&R. I've actually been trying to use up my accumulated vacation time prior to retirement in January and have been on holidays since the first week of December. But it's still been a nice break. A time to do a bit more reflection than usual and a time to take advantage of my freedom to do a bit more eating, drinking beer, watching hockey on TV, and of course skiing (hopefully this won't change).

I'm returning to work this week ... for a short period of time but January is easy to face. The days are getting longer... I get to push the re-start button on a few projects and freedom '62' is just around the cornor!! Happy New Year all.