Happy New Year 2011 - Bonne Année, Bonne Santé

Facebook status updates - a fairly good reflection of the year.
Les mises à jours sur Facebook, un bon résumé de l'année.

Paul and I are fine. The kids are fine. We lost several (too many) friends in 2010 and hope not to have such a series next year. Paul's mother passed away a month shy of her 101st birthday. But, all in all, we had a good year and can only wish for the same for us and for you in 2011.

Paul et moi, nous allons bien. Les enfants aussi. Nous avons perdu plusieurs (trop) amis en 2010 et espérons ne pas renouveler la série l'an prochain. Le mère de Paul est décédée à un mois de son 101è anniversaire. Le tout pour le tout, nous avons eu quand même une bonne année et ne pouvons que souhaiter un semblable pour nous comme pour vous en 2011.
Our month:

The Husaunndees came down from England -- all four, so we got to see Geoff and Charlotte, too. We celebrated Paul's birthday, the 24th, all together: Louis, Gwen, and Anne came in from Paris. Emma is still in the south of France and was not able to come up to Nogent. Because of all the snow we had before Christmas, last minute train travel was not recommended. We had a nice birthday dinner, special to Paul's order: fois gras, lamb, sweet potato tsimis and carrot cake. The next morning, Aurelia got up at about 7:00 as usual and we had to wait patiently for everyone else to come down and discover all the presents. There wasn't enough room under the tree; the sofa was also occupied. Louis and Gwen left for lunch at Gwen's parents and the rest of us settled for a lunch of roast beef. The Pachters came over later in the afternoon. The idea was to recreate our Christmas get-togethers of the past, but Caroline and her family were stuck in the snow in Brussels and Steve and his family were stuck at home with sick children. We did manage to have a good time and hope that next year all the next generation will be able to come.
The Husaunndees left on Tuesday. Paul and I went to a funeral, Jean-Luc Moretti, another loss to cancer. He was a former neighbor from a couple of streets above ours and companion to Dominique, whom we've known since Emma and Maud met at Ecole Maternelle (nursery school!). He was a municipal councilman and two days after he died another councilman also died, again prostate cancer.
Paul and I spent a very quiet New Year's Eve together on Friday. We dined on fois gras and oysters with an endive (chicory) salad, cheese and fruit for dessert.