The first full day of winter is as good a time as any to reflect on the year that's coming to a close. Especially since we've reached some remarkable milestones that I'll talk about in a moment.

The onset of "winter" in the Puget Sound area typically means grey skies and drizzle. But in recent weeks we saw a heck of a lot of sunshine and blue skies in Seattle. The weather forecasters use a peculiar phrase around here: sun breaks. When the sun peaks out from the dreary overcast, that's a sun break. If I were a weatherman I guess I'd say we've had a lot of sun breaks this year at Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

I know that causes consternation for those locals who like to claim it rains nonstop here, and for those naysayers who've been predicting BCA's demise.

And it seems to me it wasn't too long ago I was fielding questions at media forums along the lines of, "Is Boeing going to stay in the commercial airplanes business?" Well, I can tell you, no one is asking that question any more.

A view of Boeing Commercial Airplanes HQ in Renton, Washington this week. Or, as I like to call it, Blog Central.

And there are many reasons why they're not asking that question any more. Chief among them are the remarkable successes of the 787 and 777 models. Not to mention the record year for the Next-Generation 737. The market is speaking. And what it's saying is that Boeing has the right vision for the way people are going to fly. But as I mentioned a couple of weeks back, it's also about an evolving way of doing business. Of making our production system lean and efficient. And of listening and working closely with our customers so we can build the most reliable and cost-efficient products using the latest breakthrough technologies. This is why you're now seeing a lot of stories in the media about the terrific year we've had.

It's a year in which we've sold more 777s than any year since the program began. In 2000, our previous best year, we sold 116 777s. As of today we have 131 orders for 777s on the books for 2005.

For the 737, we've set a sales milestone that's likely to remain in the books for a long while. And the 777 program is flying high as well.

This is a year in which the 737 program has hit all sorts of records and milestones. Just this week an order from Xiamen Airlines of China for 737-800s pushed the 737 program above the 6,000 mark for all-time orders. No jet airplane in commercial aviation history has ever had the sales success of the 737. And not surprisingly 2005 also set a single-year sales record for the program. Boeing has 497 orders for 737s this year alone. The previous record was 438 orders back in 1996.

2005 may well be an all-time orders year for BCA as a whole. At 870 firm orders on the books as of today, we're approaching the order high of 877 set in 1988 (including both Boeing and McDonnell Douglas legacy products). You can take a look at the firm order book for 2005 so far on our Orders and Deliveries Website.

Corporate blogging got a lot of ink this year, and embarrassingly, so did my mug. This article was in "U.S. News and World Report" last July.

Finally, for me, on top of all the highs of the year, and all of my travels, this has been the year of the blog. This little experiment - launched on the eve of the first flight of a superjumbo in France - has taken off in ways I don't think any of us really expected. Over the past 11 months, we've had nearly 200,000 visits to this site, from blog readers around the globe.

You've certainly told me when you think we're off-base. And your suggestions have made this a better blog. Many of you have cheered along as we made history with the 777-200LR, and the launch of the 747-8. Your thoughtful and intelligent comments and your continued interest in the world of commercial aviation are what sustain this Journal. And I can't wait to see what the next year brings for blogging, aviation and Boeing.

Until then, I hope it's a great holiday time for you, and we'll have more fun discussions in 2006!