After Christmas Glow

Well, Christmas has come and gone. Wrapping paper has been discarded of, new presents are still the center of attention, and everyone feels as though they've gained five pounds from all the good food and sweets. Now comes the week of going back to work, still trying to spend time with Christmas presents, and attempting to start a diet that's going to crash and burn as soon as New Year's Eve arrives.

Christmas with Clark's family was wonderful. Though it was much busier and not as low-key as I'm used to, it was very satisfying. In the morning we were up by seven opening presents, which took until near ten o'clock. Then we busted butt to prepare the house for all the breakfast guests, and by twelve the count was around seventeen people total (not all family members). Everyone didn't file out until around three in the afternoon, which is when I was finally able to shower. Then the grandparents took naps, the "kids" played with the new XBox 360 Kinect, and everyone prepared to go over to the maternal grandparents house. Then Christmas was done with those grandparents, and everyone returned "home" exhausted, and crashed in bed.

I actually slept until 8:30 this morning, which for me is amazing. While the initial plan had been to leave for our home today, we woke up to a white-post-Christmas. It is pouring snow, if you can use that word with snow, and there has to be at least four to six inches stacked on the ground, roads, cars, and so forth. We've been told it's even worse at our house in the mountains, and therefore we have to delay going home until things are cleared up a bit.

So, this morning, Clark and his little sister Laura are still playing the Kinect, his brother John is trying to decide what to do with all his gift cards, his mom is back in the kitchen, his dad is organizing the post-Christmas mess, and after I write this blog I'm going to be sitting on the couch with a nice cup of tea reading my new book Columbine by Dave Cullen. Hopefully the pleasant aura of the visit continues and no one steps on each other's toes while we're here for an extra day or so. With any luck, we'll be on our way home tomorrow to recover from this trip and prepare for the next!

Hopefully everyone had a fabulous Christmas and is making plans for the New Year. This is the time to reflect and think of what you can do to make 2011 even better than 2010.