I would like to wish all the friends (and even the complete strangers...here's hoping you drop me a line to say hi in the New Year!) who read my blog a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.

Really, I just hope you are with someone or lots of people who you love and who love you back.
I am fortunate to be at home with my wife and kids this year and we are reminded in many ways how fortunate we really are.

Unfortunately, I have a lot of work to do over what people refer to as the holidays. I know, again...I am very fortunate that my work is making music but even knowing that, sometimes I would really would rather be drinking an eggnog with the rest of the gang upstairs.

Having the kids home from school fulltime and having much music on my mind and on my plate has got me thinking about the paradox of raising kids as an artist again.

An artist is often quite selfish for a large part of their waking hours. I know there is room for debate on this one (but I have work to do!) But, there is not much room for debate that a parent must be selfless for a big chunk of their children's lives.

Striking the balance between these two is remarkably challenging. I found it a bit amusing today how grumpy I was as I was trying to partake in whatever activites we had going in the house but my mind was on my new music, my banjo the details of the upcoming concert etc. Then, I picked up my banjo for a few minutes while my boys played some hotwheels around my feet and my mood changed instantly.

Perhaps I will pickup this topic again later when I have more time (feels like that will never happen again).

I am a lucky guy, just very confused during these holiday times.

Joyeaux Noel,
tim posgate