New York, New York

Our family just returned from a short stay in New York. It was great fun. We got to see some shows and enjoy New York during Christmas. All the Christmas lights made the city sparkle. It was cold -- but we were only there for a few days so we could take it!

It was so nice to spend time as a family. At times, things were a little confusing for me, but I still managed o.k. I realize our "family time" is going to be more and more limited, both in terms of my health and the fact that my son is getting older and won't want to go with his parents on vacation. But so far, he has managed to tag along and tolerate us having our family time.

The best part of all is always the ice skating part. I love to ice skate and my son laced up some skates and skated with me at Rockefeller Center. It was just great. I have always loved to skate and it doesn't matter how cold it is or what the conditions are, I just love to skate. I guess growing up in Illinois helped with that as most Southerners don't seem to appreciate it as much as I do.

We had very little bickering on this trip. Not that we usually have a lot but there always seems to be those times when we argue over where we are going to eat, what we are going to do, how to get there, etc. But, for some reason this trip was good in that regard. It's strange that I think about that -- but I'm glad we didn't have that on this trip.

It was a nice holiday present for me -- time with my family -- that's what I like most.