Sarah Todd: It's a fresh start for the New Year, so get outside and enjoy yourself

Having had, over the years, an assortment of "interesting" presents from The Husband – ranging from a bulb planter to a pizza slice – this was the start of a new era.

A few weeks beforehand a waistcoat had caught my eye. It was bought and then simply handed over to you-know-who, with the message that here was something to hide, wrap and "save you the worry".

How much better to get a prezzie that you actually need. I suppose we did need a bulb planter, but there is a fine line between practicality and downright boring in the etiquette of gifts.

The clean sheet of paper, or fresh start, that New Year symbolises is something that really appeals.

Maybe this will be the year that the accounts will get done on a regular basis, rather than receipts bunged in a shoe box and sorted through in a dawn-to-dusk 11th-hour blitz.

We did a fair bit of biking to school last year, but that's something we ought to do more of.

Hardly any gardening got done during 2010. I think horticulture is something that appeals in different stages in your life.

When we first came here we planted trees like they were going out of fashion, a kind of symbolic putting down of roots. Now there seems to be so much else to do that pottering in the garden gets relegated to a luxury, rather than something that should be kept on top of. Sounds like those accounts again.

Father Christmas didn't bring me a horsebox – maybe he thought the weather was too bad.

The children did quite a few sponsored rides last year and now the youngest has got going it would be brilliant to go with them. There's no way my mare could fit in the little pony trailer, so some sort of an upgrade will have to be orchestrated. The first step will be to paint and tidy up the trailer and get it ready to sell.

Last spring we finally got The Daughter's tonsils taken out and what a difference that made to the year.

Of course, she was poorly for a good few weeks afterwards but when you consider the way she was continually having the stuffing knocked out of her by bad throats, it was the right decision.

Anybody going through the same should stand firm and not be fobbed off by doctors saying "nobody has them taken out any more".

We started our little caravan site and there was plenty of fun at the summer's shows.

We lost the pony and my dear old photographer friend Bill. Whenever it was sunny he used to ring up and ask "What are you doing answering the phone on a day like this?" So, to quote him, "get outside and enjoy yourself".

CW 1/1/11