Another New Year

We had a nice, quiet New Year's Eve. Friday was the beginning of a much-needed ten-day vacation for me. Dave has been laughing at my countdown of days until freedom. "One more day!" came the sing-song melody on Thursday morning. That night a perfect glass of wine greeted my arrival home from work.

We celebrated the New Year early Friday afternoon with a drink at our favorite local pub. While we were there, Moscow rang in the New Year so we raised a quick toast. Still many hours remained until 2011 came winging around the globe and bumped right up against Mountain Time.

For dinner I made mom's famous "Square Pizza" -- a Thompson family New Year's Eve tradition from way back when. I have modified the pizza to suit my own taste; Dave can hardly wait until the New Year rolls around again to get this special treat.

This is the before picture...

... and here is the finished product, piping hot from the oven.

Because it was cold and I was bored, I posted these pictures on Facebook. Well, I have to tell you, the pizza pictures garnered more comments than any others in my rather extensive library! I suppose all my friends were in similar situations, home and tucked in warm and snuggly for the night, celebrating in a more virtual fashion. Or maybe they just thought that pizza looked lip-smackin' good!

I lapsed into a peaceful slumber around 9 PM. Dave and Tonka were both fast asleep before me. At midnight we all woke to the sound of fireworks. Several of our neighbors just love fireworks. Really, it's almost ridiculous, you might be treated to fireworks on any random day. They are out there right now, shooting off a few extras. Still, I could not believe they were at it for nearly a half hour in that sub-zero weather!

New Year's Day is time to put away the holiday decorations and reclaim the house. Tonka has been through this Christmas decoration chaos once before. Last year he became obsessed with our two stuffed Rudolphs; he even knows the name "Rudolph." We say, "Where's Rudolph?" and Tonka snaps to attention, staring intently in that border collie way at Little Rudolph, smiling down from his lofty perch on the mantelpiece. Big Rudolph was hidden in a corner this year so he didn't get nearly as much of Tonka's attention. But today Tonka managed to get up close and personal (very personal) with Little Rudolph:

Hey! There's that terrorist reindeer!

Maybe I should just be nice. Hello, Rudolph. Hmm, no response.

Let's try a sniff and... I'm getting nothing here either. What's up with this guy?

Oh no! They've joined forces! What to do?

Note to Tonka: The reindeer are safely tucked away in the attic. You can relax now.

Welcome 2011, I'm looking forward to a bigger, better, brighter tomorrow!