Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a peaceful holiday season and are as excited for the new year as I am. I was especially pleased to see the thermometer hit fifty degrees yesterday and today. At this rate, this could be my favorite New Hampshire winter yet. Clearing our porch of the last of the snow and ice from last week's blizzard is a lot easier now that the sun is doing most of the work for me. Something tells me that we'll be back to frigid temperatures before long, but I am resolutely enjoying the warmth while it lasts.

Speaking of last week's blizzard, Ellen and I made a whirlwind tour of New York and New England the two days after Christmas to see friends and family. Needless to say, this coincided with what has been somewhat melodramatically christened "Blizzard 2010." Our trip began with an early morning drive to Putnam County, New York, for brunch with my mother and stepfather. The drive down was uneventful, but snowflakes were beginning to fall by the time we got back in the car for the short trip to Chappaqua, where we had a chance to catch up with my father, brother, stepmother and a good friend from high school.

By now it was snowing purposefully, and Ellen and I still had a three-hour trip to Boston to spend the night with my grandmother. This was the diciest part of the trip, as the highways were becoming increasingly ... white. At least New York and Massachusetts made an effort to plow the roads, but Connecticut didn't even try. Shame on you, Connecticut. It ended up taking us just over five and a half hours to complete the trip, but we did make it safely to Boston and had a nice time with my grandmother (whose Wii Bowling skills are nothing short of legendary. How many people do you know who can bowl a 284?).

Monday saw a brief visit with one of Ellen's old roommates, who was also a bridesmaid in our wedding, and then a largely snow-free drive home. It was fun to get to see so many people--and exciting, if taxing, to make such a long journey in the snow--but we were glad to finally be home.