Happy New Year

We celebrated New Year's Eve out at Nordegg for the first time.  Usually we stay home and attend the fireworks show at our local community hall.  This year we did the same thing, but at our second home out in Nordegg.

The festivities started down in town at the community hall with a big bonfire being lit at 2:00 in the afternoon.  There was a potluck dinner as well.  I headed into town at about 3:30 to join in the shinny hockey game at the outside rink.  The girls headed down separately, a little later on.  I was on the ice for two hours straight.  It started out pretty low key with a lot of little kids out for a skate.  Later the little kids stepped aside and a bunch of older kids started to play, a little more seriously.  The boards were kind of rustic, and the lights limited, but it was a lot of fun.  The temperature dipped down to about -11 that evening but I certainly wasn't cold as long as I was skating around.

Several of our neighbors were around and most of them came down to town for the festivities as well.  Anna's best friend Raquel was out with her family and the two girls went tobogganing on the small hill by the hall, along with Hailey and Helena.  At 7:00 the fireworks show started and it must have lasted for at least 15 minutes.  I thought it was pretty impressive for a community as small as Nordegg.

Unfortunately we didn't have anything to contribute to the pot luck, so we didn't feel right taking part in it, even though there was lots of food.  After the fireworks we headed back up to the cottage and had a late dinner of pasta and sauce.  Margarit and I went to bed well before midnight and missed out on the end of 2018.  I was pretty tired from all the fresh air and skating for as long as I did.  The girls stayed up much later and must have still been awake when 2019 arrived.

I worked too much in 2018 and didn't take enough time off.  A lot of it was working on the cottage, which was by choice.  I don't really consider that work because I enjoy it a lot, and its not nearly as stressful as my day job.  But it took a lot of time away from other things... like camping, and photography, and fishing, and so many other things that I enjoy.  With the cottage nearly finished now I'm sure that 2019 will be a lot different.  I put in at least a 10 hour work day all year long, and took no holidays, other than a few days out working at the cottage.  I felt pretty drained as the year wound down and was happy to close my shop and take two weeks off over the Christmas break.  I am also taking steps to retire and will not be working full time beyond 2020.