Holiday Recovery Mode

I got the kids in bed before 9pm on Sunday night. It seemed like a miracle considering bedtime had been almost nonexistent since family started arriving a few days before Christmas. They were staying up until 10 - almost 11 o'clock some nights. Crazy. Bedtime seemed nonexistent for me too. Staying up until the wee hours of the morning - cleaning up, wrapping gifts (while watching Family Man with Nicolas Cage - my own little Cmas tradition), taking care of odds and ends, etc... One night I was up until almost 3am. No kidding...and I honestly don't even remember why. 

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day came and went - filled with baking, cooking, cleaning, dishes, more dishes, more cooking, more cleaning...and lots of laughs, way too many sweets, marathon Lego-building, rainbow Razzles toenail painting, and several rounds of Bananagrams.  My dad and my sister, Mindy, stayed with us until Friday, and Pat's sister and boyfriend arrived on Wednesday afternoon. They actually stayed in a hotel - probably a wise choice on their part. Earlier in the week, Pat and I managed to squeeze in a date night - a very rare event - and saw Mission Impossible 4. Or was it 3? I have no idea. Then Mindy and I went to see New Year's Eve on Tuesday night. Our step-mom gave us some free movie passes so we took advantage of those. I don't think I have ever been to the movies two nights in a row, or even two nights in a month, since my kiddos came along.

We said "good-bye" to the last of our family entourage on Saturday after spending the afternoon at a six story obstacle course complete with foam ball blasters! There was even a kids' countdown at 4pm (featuring bubble wrap fireworks!) which was a first for us. Abby and Noah loved it. Despite the crowd, it was a fun way to spend the last day of the year.  

So now the tree is finally down. Decorations have been put away...except for the blow up Santa and elves that are currently crumpled and lifeless in the front yard...oh, and the lights on the house. (I am leaving that task to Pat.) School started back up this week on Tuesday (not Monday as I first thought and kept complaining about...the kids only got a week for Christmas break for some reason). Noah has only been back two days, and Abby has been at home with me all week. They've both been fighting a cough/cold of sorts, but it's still been nice to have lazy pajama mornings playing Mousetrap and watching Let's Make A Deal - Papa introduced them to the world of game shows (and Man vs.Wild) while he was visiting.

All in all, it really was a great Christmas and New Year's and awesome to be surrounded by family, but, man, I am wiped out. If only moms could hibernate...