......and in the blink of an eye it was January! The Santas and decorations have all been put away for another year...... including a new "vintage" Santa from a Bundanoon op shop (he stars in the foggy photo below).
Christmas day in the Southern Highlands arrived on a foggy cold morning......thankfully the day did warm up as Mum, my sisters and I enjoyed the day together......
Boxing Day arrived and we went into Mum's aged care with platters of left overs for lunch to watch the beginning of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race..... a tradition our family has followed for years! 
The weather never really got warm over the 3 weeks in Bundanoon.... lucky then that I had packed clothes for all seasons......but we did get out and about......
A number of foggy early morning walks.....
A surprising sunny day and it was a visit to a local market......
A day out at Berkelouw books for lunch and we all found books we just had to have....
Time for a movie..... something jolly and fun... off to Empire Cinema in Bowral.....
and of course New Years Eve together.....
There was plenty of time to have days with Mum enjoying afternoon tea.....
We also found time to shop - in particular one of my favourite patchwork shops - Thread Botanica in Mittagong and of course more books were acquired- most at some great op shops in the highlands! 
I packed a few craft projects to work on while away but did not even do one stitch!! Not a lot of reading was done either.... these 2 books being the only ones read since before Christmas.... "Cold Enough for Snow" was read while away and "The Bullet that Missed" has been read since been back home....both very different storylines but thoroughly enjoyed each one....
And so begins my first full year of retirement..... there are no special plans at the moment but do have a kitchen renovation starting next week and must do something about de-cluttering! Have a quilt started and numerous other projects on the go..... perhaps too many?
That brings me up to date once again.....
Happy Stitching, Asta
