Closing the curtains a little

When we lived in Houston, I used to love to walk around our neighborhood in the evenings. The houses were close together and we lived in a great neighborhood. It is the kind of neighborhood where there are adorable 2 bedroom cottages next to behemoth old and new houses. It is a neighborhood filled with professors, physicians, artists, lawyers, widows and young families. Many university students lived in the quarters above the detached garages. We lived near the art museum, Rice University and the medical center so there was an eclectic mix of people.

What I enjoyed most about the walks was not the exercise but peering into people's living rooms for an instant. Being the social scientist that I am, I invented whole life stories in my head for the families that lived in each house. The small darkened homes belonged to single professionals who were workaholics. There was the lonely, eccentric gardener and the vibrant empty nesters with the great art collection.

In many ways, I think blogging is like those walks. We allow people a glimpse into our "living" rooms. I am grateful that I have the opportunity for a glimpse into your lives. We live in a hilly neighborhood of new construction now. The house are spaced far apart and the "great" rooms are all in the backs of the houses. I don't walk often.

I have been surprised how many people peek into this room everyday (anywhere between 400 and 600) and I am happy to share with you all. This month I have a lot going on and I feel like I need to close the curtains a little bit. I blogged a lot in the last month because I wanted a quick and easy way to document Kate's first Christmas at home. Now, I need to take some time to get things accomplished. I am hosting a baby shower for one of my dearest friend's very soon and I need to get ready for it. I will still post but not as much. And I will still peek into your living rooms but probably a bit less for a few weeks.

I wish you all a very happy new year. One thing our family started doing last year was writing down our wishes/hopes/dreams for the coming year. It was fun yesterday to read what we wrote last year. We all hoped to meet "Lili" which is what we called Kate before we named her. She has surpassed all of our dreams! The rest of our wishes were too personal to share here but I was surprised how many of them actually came true. I think if you put something like that down in writing, sometimes you make it happen. I hope all of your hopes for 2008 are fulfilled!

And because I love to post photos...here is one of Kate trying on the shoes of one of Harry's friends. She ended up getting them on and walking around the kitchen. Oh, she is SO cute! She may need a pair of little red Chucks.