Merry Christmas from The Leethams

With the festive season upon us, I had some fun the other day ‘Elfing’ myself, Rhiannon and Morgan.  The result is the video below, I truly hope you enjoy it (Morgan wasn’t real happy about being made an elf!)

I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on the past year and share some of our highlights with my readers.

I think the best part of the year would have to be the family trip to the Whitsundays.  For over 12 months, I had diligently saved a few dollars each week for a family holiday.  I had purchased in February 2007 a voucher that gave us a great price for a resort in the Whitsundays, but it ran out in February 2008 – so it was a great time to go.  It was also well deserved – our last real family holiday had been in April 2003 before opening our EzyDVD stores and the previous four years had been a whirlwind ride for us.

I loved the Whitsundays – even if it did bucket down nearly the whole time we were there. The best part for me would have been the trip out to the Reef and snorkelling with the kids.  You can view our Holiday picks at our Photo Album

At the end of February, my regular paying gig was terminated! Which left Stuart and I feeling a little panicky.  Fate intervened though and I opened an email from Janet Beckers of Wonderful Web Women – inviting us to World Internet Summit for FREE! I had promised myself the previous year that come what may – I was going to an offline event and there was my chance!  From WIS, I ramped up my online ventures and was off. Want to know more about WIS and how it can help you?  Pick up the DVD for just postage and handling at The World Internet Summit DVDs.

The months between March and July are a bit of a blur really.  The kids went back to School and Stuart started in Year 1 of his electrical apprenticeship. I should note here that Stuart had already been working nearly six moths as an apprentice before starting Tech, so his timeline is a little skewed.  What really pleased me was to see how much he enjoyed learning the new work…. It’s a real testimony to his character that he could just ‘start again’ at this time in his life.

I launched my free teleseminar series, which is currently in hiatus until the new year. However, all of my existing material is still available for free at How To Videos Central.  Part of my end of year review is to consider what I will be doing with this content.  I really enjoyed doing these teleseminars and I think I learnt more from doing them than my participants!

July saw Morgan and Rhiannon attend their ballroom dancing medals and, as usual, their Grandma Leetham, Dad and I were overjoyed to see how well they danced.  Here are some videos of their July exams

In July, we made the decision that we needed to reduce our family expenditure and move in with my parents. Not an easy decision, but it was made.  However, it wasn’t until September that we actually made the move – putting 4 adults and 2 children into a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house!  I’ll just say it is cozy.

In the intervening months, I was asked to work on several projects with people – either in a JV partnership or on a paid basis.  Then the work really did ramp up!  Sites that I’ve been very involved with this year:

• Stop Smoking With Dr Sally In 21 Days Or Less;
• The Way To Bliss Now with Laura Whitelaw and Liz Lichti
• Banish The Blahs by Joan Adams and Betty DeLorme

My two big undertakings for this part of the year however were:

Ladies In Business Today with Carol Deckert and Ladies In Business Today Christmas Charity Project – will you help us support our charities?

and

Stretch Your Mind And Body with Connie Boris.

Connie and I even started a Blog Talk Radio show that runs every Wednesday morning in Australia… listen online now to our past shows or you can listen live online to our shows as we do them.

Rhiannon received great news in November, when she was advised by Jenny Ford of Cash Smart Kids, that she had been selected to be featured as a Young Entrepreneur in Peter Economy’s Charity Book Project.  Jenny will be co-authoring this book with Peter and – needless to say, we are extremely proud of our Young Lady.

So here we are near the end of 2008 and as I look back over the year, I marvel at what we have achieved and give thanks for the bounty that we receive everyday.

As of two weeks ago, Stuart has finished at Tech for the year.  He is now half way through Year 2 of his apprenticeship studies – yes, he did 18 months worth of study this year (although he did have 1 or 2 subjects credited for Prior Learning) and has done the amazing thing of achieving all High Distinctions in his graded classes.  As much as we rib him about it, the entire family is thrilled by his achievement (and I know he is too).

Not withstanding the financial situation, it has been an absolutely fabulous year.  I’m grateful for my family and my friends (who are now all around the world). I was going to try and name everyone in this post but decided not to – just in case I inadvertently missed someone…. but you know who you are.  Bless you and Thank You!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas….