Neil, Beth, Iain and Liam Pitman: Cleaning Out the Closets

'Tis a new year. Beginnings. Resolutions and goals. New schedules, new hobbies and cleaning out the closets, both literally and figuratively. A fresh page on the calendar. Out with the old! In with new! I'm not much of a resolution-maker, but there is something about January that makes me want to start fresh. However, this year I'm finding it hard to get into a January frame of mind. Perhaps it's because the first (noteworthy) snow of the season didn't fall until well after the holiday came and went, so truly, it's only now beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Maybe it's because the weeks leading up to Christmas are "the most wonderful time of the year". It could be because we had so. much. fun. this Christmas, with celebrations all over the place, both home and away, and we're not ready for the fun to end! Or...more likely it's just that I have approximately 972 Christmas photos staring me in the face, needing to need to be dealt with. And about 863 others from the weeks preceding. I took a bit of a blog-break this month, because I just didn't know where to start. I mean...no one wants to read about festivities now! It's January. Closet cleaning time! But, on the other hand, if I leave it out, I'll forever be confused about what we did for Christmas 2011, because my memory really is becoming that faulty! And predictably, just because you stop documenting it, life doesn't stop happening. So now I have about 467 photos from January's adventures needing to be taken care of too.

So before I am buried any deeper under this digital pile of memories, I think I'll be doing a little retroactive blogging this week: Our 12-days of Christmas, Dubuque style. Liam's first haircut, Liam's first Christmas and Liam's first birthday! Canadian Christmas 2011. A New Year's masquerade ball. Pitman Pie Weekend 2012. And of course, lots of everyday life in between. If you are a blog reader who likes up-to-the minute reporting, these posts might not be for you! But, if you're someone we are lucky enough to enjoy life with...stay tuned! There's a good chance you'll see yourself in the archives, because you've been part of our fun over the last few months!

One last thing. Since I'm here anyway, I will get one 'post topic' off my to-do list! January is not only good for closet cleaning! It's also good for snowman making. And that is just what we did today! Meet the Pitman family. Our at least our snow-doppelgangers! Snoppelgangers?

L-R: Kitty, Iain, Daddy, Mommy and Liam!