and Then There Was None

It took nearly all of yesterday, but I was finally able to get all the Christmas decorations (save for the ones I've decided to donate) down and put away in the basement. Hubby followed behind me with a vacuum to pick up all the plastic pine needles, strings, broken remnants and strange food pieces that followed in my wake.

Normally it feels great to take all that stuff down, and it did feel good, but the girls Christmas break felt so incredibly short this year that it's a bit disappointing. I felt like we missed out on our usual time to just hang out and do nothing.

We had a busy and very fun Christmas eve and Christmas Day with all my family able to join us at different points along the way. The niece and nephew in the 2 year old crowd made every moment interesting. My kids tried their hardest to keep them from fighting but they still managed to have mini battles anyway. I mostly just giggled, even though I shouldn't have. It was funny to see them gnashing their teeth at each other.

Miss 16 had a friend staying with us for several days around New Year's and Mr 20 was off with a group of friends skiing in Big Sky, MT. Miss 11 and I did manage some epic battling on the Wii though. Lego Star Wars provided us with lots of laughter, mostly at me as I'm not the most adept at those sort of games. I'm much better with the physical games then the ones that require little finger movements and strange combinations of button pushing.

Hubby stayed home for 2 four day weekends, and was a huge help when we had guests here for meals. He's great to help clean up my dishes as I cook or sweep up messes that I spill. He was also excellent with the 2 year olds taking them to play while the rest of us cleaned up after meals. They both loved his attention.

Even with all the good times we had, I feel like we missed out on those times where we sat around, watched a movie of just hung out and played a game. I imagine as the kids age even more they will become fewer and farther between.