SEASON'S GREETINGS!

To the left is Lew and I just before we left for a Christmas party last year. We like to think we haven't changed significantly over 2008!

I chuckle to read Gary's blog. You guys are only getting a little reminder of growing up in Winnipeg! Shucks, we'll take the snow and give you our -30! Actually it has warmed up significantly this Christmas Eve day, and we're at a balmy -18 this afternoon.

Lew is off playing bridge and I've just finished the peanut brittle and have the carrot pudding steaming, ready for a quick heat up tomorrow. Christmas will be very quiet. Just the two of us and the two little old ladies. We have plenty to be grateful for. Lew has finished 20 of his 33 radiation treatments and the oncologist told him yesterday that everything is going as planned. We hope that the middle of January, when the last treatment is done, we can kiss this whole episode good-bye and get on with life.

I'm revving up to do a play in one of our semi-professional Theatre groups here in Saskatoon. The run is the last week of January. Thanks to Lew's help, I have all my lines memorized and am just working on getting all the inflections, gestures, etc. in place.

As soon as that is done, we look forward to heading to Winnipeg for Auntie Merle's party. It will be a grand reunion of all the crew.

In May I officially retire--even if the stock market doesn't recover. We have a Sally Ann and food bank here, so somehow we'll survive! Hopefully we're off to Montreal as soon as the garden is planted. We plan to drive down with our trailer loaded with furniture for my oldest daughter and her fiance. They'll have a job list for us, as they are updating their six bedroom house, and every room needs some kind of attention. We're hoping we can focus more on the exterior of the house. The garden will likely call us home around the middle of June. My Mom is to have a knee replacement sometime this summer, so we hope everything works into a schedule.

Our relatives and friends have been wonderfully supportive during Lew's surgery and recovery. We had a marvellous day in June to hold my youngest daughter's wedding in our back yard. Life is good and we are thankful.

We wish everyone a happy Christmas filled with fun, family, friends and fellowship. May 2009 give all of you good health and happiness, and perhaps the urge to travel to 55 O'Neil Crescent in Saskatoon!

Cheerio!

Phyllis and Lew