Thanks to all of you who wrote with holiday greetings and to tell us you missed us during these last two weeks. I shared your comments with the staff and they were much appreciated. As we start the new year, I wondered if I could ask you to forward this newsletter to any friends who you think might enjoy it. Consider it our “annual newsletter drive” to kick off the year/decade and a chance for you to “jumpstart” another reader. Thanks in advance for this.

Happy 2010! We’re all safely and squarely back at work after a long holiday break, and we hope you are too...and that you had a wonderful holiday season!

Mine was a bit odd, to say the least. I had planned a trip back home to Iowa to visit my mom and other family. My plan, I thought, was brilliant. I would fly in on the 24th, arriving to the tiny airport in Waterloo, Iowa, at 12:30 p.m. That’s just the perfect time to swoop in and be there right before the big feast would be served. (A quick aside for those not familiar with the Waterloo airport: It’s even smaller than you imagine. It has two gates. When leaving from there, you never, ever have to run to your departure gate, because if you’re inside the airport, you’re practically there. And if you’re late, all you need to do is yell across the room, “I’m coming!” and they’ll hold the plane for you. You pay a little extra for flying in and out of this luxury airport, but sometimes you have to splurge.)