Happy New Year!

Hello, remember me? I used to write a blog around here...

I'm still here, and all is well in the Monkey household. Blogging simply slipped down the to-do list. The busier things are, the more there is to write about, but with less time to do so. Under (self-imposed) pressure to document everything, complete with photographs, blogging was starting to become a chore. And of course the longer I left it, the less I felt like doing it...

I do want to keep it going though, so here I am, back again with New Year's enthusiasm. Looking back through the archives, I noticed that my earlier, more frequent, posts were shorter, with less photos. So I'm going to remind myself that if a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing at all, and doesn't have to be perfect.

Over Christmas and New Year, we went to the UK. I'm not going to promise photos which I will never deliver, or long blog posts covering the trip in detail (see above). Instead, know that we spent just over 2 weeks with my parents, enjoying the Christmas spirit. There was a visit to Father Christmas (more popular with K than with T), the making of a Christmas cake, looking at Christmas lights and a Christmas Eve church service. There were visits to my grandmothers, my aunt, and old friends as well as a visit from my sister and her partner and a big party gathering most of the people I know in the area! There was lots of Christmas morning excitement, presents galore and seasonal gluttony. There was a day at Newquay Zoo, and a day at Trethorne Leisure Farm. There was shopping, go-cart riding, dinner and a film for H and I, CBeebies watching and even some sock monkey making. There were also some Very Long Flights with some Very Restless Children, but we'll gloss over that.

So now we're back in Japan, and regular programming has been resumed. If you are one of the many people who I never even knew read the blog but who recently popped up to say 'You haven't written anything lately...', then do please comment. A simple 'Happy New Year' or 'About time too!' will do...