And now, the end is near...

...here is my own personal review of the year! Bye bye 2009, you've been good to me but I look forward to seeing what 2010 holds for me.

It's been a good year. My own personal highlights have included my daughter starting pre-school and my son starting at nursery - I love to see how they develop, and of course marrying Mr M. We enjoyed playing in the snow earlier this year, easily the best we've had in a long time. We tried to make the most of the weather this year seeing as summers just aren't what they used to be and took spontaneous trips out to the seaside, BBQed at every opportunity, picked fruit from our garden and generally tried to appreciate ht little bit of sunshine that came our way. We had the best day ever when we got married, the weather was kind to us and it was just an amazing experience. Our honeymoon that followed in Suffolk was equally good - full of blue skies and pigsties, yummy food and beautiful places. I carved my first ever pumpkin and shall be on to bigger and better things next year. Christmas has been good, if a little tainted with illness but we've tried to make the most of it and the children have been spoiled rotten.

Things I have loved this year...Cheryl Cole, Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas. New Moon and The Time Travelers Wife at the cinema. The Twilight Saga books - so so sad I've finished them. Visiting London - I can't count how many times I have been this year, but I love it every time I go (and we'll ignore the fact that I always come back ill). The MP's expenses debacle - okay, not so great for the taxpayer, but great entertainment. Twitter. Winning tickets to see Michael Buble in a small intimate gig courtesy of Barclaycard.

Things I've not loved so much...the Susan Boyle hype, swine flu, constantly ill children. The lack of summer we seem to have - I was hoping for better this year. Redundancies at work. Darling Camille's diagnosis. The price of everything - groceries, household items, fuel, holidays...it's all rocketed. Thanks Mr Brown for that VAT decrease, it's done a world of good - yep it just means that as from tonight everyone gets to stick another 2.5% on the price of goods and services.

We seem to have lost a staggering amount of people this year, amongst them Patrick Swayze, Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Brittany Murphy, Mollie Sugden, Henry Surtees, Natasha Richardson, Stephen Gately, Keith Floyd, Adam Goldstein, John Hughes, Jade Goody, Bobby Robson, David Carradine, Wendy Richard, and not forgetting our last three WWI veterans, God rest their souls.

2009 was the year we saw the split of Peter & Jordan (gasp!), Swine Flu caused mild panic, Terry Wogan brought everyone to tears when he finished his Radio 2 breakfast show (and I was glad to be able to listen to Radio 2 again in the mornings), MPs got shamed with their expenses and the The X-Factor got denied Christmas No1.

I wonder what 2010 will hold...any guesses? Perhaps a Tory government? Peter & Jordan back together? (you can just see it can't you). Perhaps 2010 will the year I finally win the lottery (and finally start playing the lottery to help achieve that goal...).

Above everything I hope and wish for 2010 I pray for good news and good health for a precious little girl, Camille Shave.

So out with the old, and in with the new. Whatever you are doing tonight, have a great time and I hope that 2010 holds great things for all of you!

love & kisses
Mrs M x