Happy New Year... Let's start '09 out with a bang.

Hey all,

I know most of us are breathing a big sigh of relief that '08 is a memory. The New Year holiday is a time to reflect on all the great things we lived in the past twelve months though. I won't bore you with all the details... if you're interested, scroll through the past few months of blog entries to see why '08 was full of great changes for Kelly & I.

Although the house is jammed these days with kids and stuff, it is a far cry better than the empty house we've had for the past 5 - 7 years (for now anyway :0)).

Bella was asked to skate at a boys hockey team practice that was short a few players over Christmas break. When she got there Mema Kelly discovered they were skating with Chris Draper. She did very well with a little help from David & Kelly... Grampa as usual was pretty much useless on his skates. Got a few good pics though.

Christmas was very nice... we all pared back on the gifts a bit but it was the best Christmas in a few years having the whole family back for the holiday. We kept the Christmas Day tradition alive having dinner at Kubla Kahn, even though Jessy ditched us heading to Chicago to ski with Anthony that afternoon. Anthony made it up to me by getting me footie pajamas though... all is forgiven :0)

I'm sure I'm not alone in making New Years resolutions... The biggest one I made is the one about not breaking my new years resolutions before January is over. Naturally I'm going to eat better, exercise and lose a little weight, be a better husband, father and grandfather, and focus very hard on making my real estate business excel past the last three years.

Fortunately I can keep the first few without much outside intervention. The last one is going to require the same gracious efforts of all of you as usual, and possibly a little help from above :0).

We're days away from a new president, and economic issues and global unrest loom over our heads. Ronald Reagan understood like no one in recent history that a happy population is a prosperous population. My wish for the new year is for all of us to find the happiness and peace within us, so we can fight 2009 back into prosperity.

Real Estate is starting out well so far... We were able to end 2008 strong, and I'm working with several buyers currently, and some of my listings are seeing pretty fair amounts of traffic (even in January). A good first quarter is a great way to set the stage for the remainder of the year...

Thanks again for your referrals, I promise next month to publish a blog with substance :0)... stay tuned, and have a fantastic 2009.