Twenty-ten.

I’ve absolutely loved the holiday time out. I don’t know about you, but this year we really tried to take life slow and Just Be. I’m in an age and stage of life that I adore. My husband is young, healthy, funny and a joy to have home on his days off. My boybarians are vivacious, loud, busy, happy (albeit messy and constantly hungry) creatures. Even the cat seems to know things are just the way they should be.

Handy Man is off work from Christmas Eve to the Monday after the New Year. This long break feels luxurious and I am sad it ends tomorrow. We’ve had lazy mornings, great coffee, sat side-by-side in the living room – each of us with a laptop – sharing conversation, our online finds, news, weather. After opening their Christmas abundance, the boys have been pretty self-occupied. They play loudly in their rooms – shouts of exuberence and the occasionally boybaric scuffle can be heard – but mostly, they stay cocooned up playing with new Playmobile and Lego sets. The emerge only to be fed, then disappear again. They are loved intensely, and I hope the security that brings them lasts a lifetime.

Weather has been… well, it’s Iowa in the winter. Yesterday it was -16. It makes staying holed up with hot coffee and family feel good. Today, the Christmas decorations come down. While we often wait until the Epiphany, I’m ready to see the stuff go. I don’t think The Wise Men or Baby Jesus cared about twinkling lights, stockings and wreaths. So away they go.

Twenty-ten (oh, just adopt it already… you know it’s inevitable!) will be a year of great personal goals. I feel like I’ve found the next chapter, capturing those I love and those loved by others in photographs. Time and family and togetherness is so precious. Capture it. Treasure it. I have been working hard to improve my own photographic skills. It will also mean – for my graphic design clients, a scaled back version of my business. I love design – I love the creative outlet. But in 2010, my time will be shared among design clients and photography clients.

My own great abundance is something for which I am thankful. Handy Man bought me (well, okay… us) the 70-200 2.8mm lens for Christmas. I still have shivers. It has been such a fun toy, and I can’t wait until my next shoot. I think our photography clients will love what it can do! It’s a leap of faith to start a new business in this economy. But we hope the times have helped everyone else see when you remove everything else – the house, the car, the job, the stuff – what you have is each other. We can capture the very root of it all and make it into a memory you can keep forever.

So, feeling nostalgic, content, hopeful and energized about 2010. How about you? What’s on your plate for 2010?