Apologies if you can't hear this post, it has been written very quietly as lack of sleep and too much wine have conspired to make me feel a tad fragile this morning. I really wanted to write this post to wish you all a very Happy New Year and thank you all for your kindness this passed one. I hope you all had a great New Year's Eve spent with family and friends, or if like me, it is not your favourite night of the year, the evening past quietly and peacefully.
We spent last night with our closest friends. Not a dressing up, grand kind of evening but, in my eyes, the best kind of evening, seeing in a New Year with people we love in a relaxed, happy and cosy way. Over the years we have spent New Year's Eve in each other's company, sharing our food, laughter and homes. With every New Year's Eve our children have grown older and bigger, the laughter has grown louder and our relationships stronger. As we sat in their seafront home watching chinese lanterns floating past the windows (yes, it was that idyllic) and fireworks fly off over the sea, I realised that it couldn't get any better. What more would you possibly want to do to say goodbye to one year and welcome in another? And what lay at the heart of it all was our desire and willingness to share.
We have known our friends through times of feast and famine and have supported each other in times of joy and sadness. This year we agreed not to give each other presents and I did worry that it would feel mean or diminish the evening, but in a way the night was better for it. What we savoured was each other - our mad dancing, our shrieking singing, our relentless laughter and the rosy faces of our children as we sat round a candlelit dinner table.
So here we are, slightly the worst for wear, on New Year's Day and this is my 200th post. I won't go on (again!) about how much this blogging business means to me but I will say that, just like evenings spent with friends or family, what has mattered most to me since I began posting was the sense of being able to share. Being able to share in your news and reading your views and comments on my posts has made blogging much more than a way of recording the daily goings on and thoughts from the Roses household. Without your posts, blogs and comments my blogging experience would be so very different. Just like New Year's Eve, I have learnt that sharing things (not necessarily the headache resulting from too much wine and lack of sleep) is fun.
To welcome in the New Year and celebrate my 200 posts I'm offering a little giveaway. To enter, please leave a comment on this post and when I have emerged from my stupor I shall draw a name from a hat. I have, as usual, no idea what I shall be giving away but will go off to a darkened room straightaway and start thinking about it!
Wishing you all a wonderfully happy, rosy New Year, full of dreams fulfilled, magical moments and new blogging friendships. I'm looking forward to reading all about it!