After a difficult year with a sliding economy and rising deficits, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he is optimistic that 2010 will be a year of recovery for his country.

"I feel pretty good about the way the country has pulled together. I feel pretty optimistic for 2010," he told CTV News' Chief Anchor and Senior Editor Lloyd Robertson and Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife.

Harper sat down last week for 'A Conversation with the Prime Minister," CTV's exclusive annual year-end interview, which aired Saturday evening. The wide-ranging interview is the Prime Minister's final televised interview of the year.

Much of the interview focused on Parliament, climate change and the economy covered in a CTV News story earlier this week.

In a better position in the polls this year, and with some important international travels behind him,

Harper seems relaxed and looking forward to the Olympics in February, and hosting a G8 meeting in Muskoka next summer. As for a possible election next year, he wasn't keen to discuss such a possibility.

"It's great to have good polls when there's no election in sight. We'll cross the election bridge when we come to it" he said.

This year, he spoke more freely about personal and family life, and thanked his wife, Laureen, for encouraging him show off his musical skills.

At her urging, Harper displayed his piano skills by playing and singing at a public gala at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa in October.

A video of Harper being accompanied by renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma during his rendition of The Beatles' "With a Little Help from my Friends," has been viewed more than 500,000 times on YouTube.

Harper revealed he has been practicing with an Ottawa Celtic band called Herringbone for fun, but said he never thought an audience would want to hear him play.

"I started to think to myself 'if I don't do this I'll always regret it,'" he said.

"We mustered up the courage and I did it, but I have to say that I was more nervous about that than anything I've ever done in my public life," he said.

But one thing that puts him somewhat at ease is playing tennis and ping pong with his son, Ben, 12.

"The way I've always tried to keep in shape physically is doing some sports with my son. But as he gets bigger and bigger and stronger and stronger, it's getting to be less and less of a contest," Harper said, adding that he's lost weight this year.

But he's not so sure if he can keep up with his son for much longer.

"I have trouble beating him at anything,"

And he's been snapped by photographers, sharing a smile with his son at Calgary Flames games. Even though Harper has never revealed which team he cheers for, he is an avid hockey fan and continues to work away at book on the history of the game.

"It's a distraction for me. I've worked at it, say 15 minutes to a half hour every day for six years now," Harper said. His book will be about an early hockey team, and only specialists in hockey history will be really interested.

He said some research still needs to be done, but he doesn't have a particular time frame for its completion.

"We are starting to make some progress. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel," he said.

He said that he predicts Canada's hockey team and other athletes will do well at February's Olympics in Vancouver, where as host and participant, Canada will haul away many gold medals, in many sports.

And he said the torch run which has already made its way over more than half of Canada is an indicator of just how devoted Canadians will be in Vancouver.

"It's not the patriotism in the sense we tend to see it south of the border -- the loud, kind of flag-waving patriotism--but a real, deep affection and attachment to the country," he said.