NEW BEGINNINGS.

Happy New Year! Hello one and all and welcome back. How was your Christmas break? Ours was brilliant. It started when a copy of my book arrived in the post - a perfect bound one! I was chuffed! It looks even better than I could have hoped. Per-lease buy it! it really is a quite remarkable little volume, just right for little hands (Beatrix Potter knew what she was talking about when overseeing the publication of Peter Rabbit with Frederic Warne!). My ten year old nephew read it cover to cover one day, got to the end and said enthusiastically "That's the moral!". I felt like clicking my fingers like Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady and saying "By George, he's got it!"

We saw a lot of our families over the festive season which is always nice. Mother and Arlo (aka The Rat) came over to spend Christmas with us and the chihuahua and Cat just about tolerated each other, even sleeping in the same room at the same time, albeit at opposite ends! We were also joined by Best Mate whose daughter was spending Christmas with her dad and gran somewhere on the south coast. No way would Hubby and I let Best Mate spend Christmas Day on her own so we invited her over on Christmas Eve and threw together a Stocking full of goodies for her. It was so nice on Christmas Day as we all pitched in to get the Christmas Dinner ready. Best Mate cocked up and made two blackcurrant jellies instead of one but we forgave her that. And after dinner we watched the Adam Sandler film on DVD "Night At The Museum". Very funny!

During the course of the next few days, we had a birthday tea at Mother's (her birthday falls on 27 December), a trip into London, a get-together in Leigh on Sea with all Hubby's side of the family and New Year down in Danehill where Youngest Sister lives. We had a treat in London - went into Foyles in Selfridges in Oxford Street and ordered two copies of the book. That was the culmination of a lifelong ambition, I can tell you - buying someting I'd written at Foyles - and we both walked out to the frosty air beaming with pride.

The real icing on the cake though - not the Christmas Cake, I hasten to add - was the arrival on Monday 7th January of Third Grandchild. New Grandson has a mop of dark brown hair and very dark eyes if the photos emailed by Clever Son-in-Law are anything to go by. Hubby and I cannot wait to see them all on Saturday.

Finally there is quite a bit going on with the Writing but I will come back to that next time. For now, all that remains to be said is Here's to You and All The Best for 2008!