Happy New Year!

Ahhh.... it's good to be home!

I'll never forget Leslie Ann King saying once to me: Thanksgiving comes once a year, but Christmas comes EVERY year. No kidding--a lot of fun, but there is definitely a feeling a lot like relief when it is over.

We really did have a wonderful holiday break. Mom and Dad came Christmas Eve and stayed for a few days. We ate prime rib for dinner and it just went down (or is it up?) hill from there--I must have gained about 25 more pounds eating. (arrrghhh). We took a long walk down along the Colebrook Lake River/Farmington River. This was Coal's first major outdoor debut. We watched a lot of movies and shopped til we dropped!

The 12 days we had Susie and Dan went by so fast. All of a sudden it was time to bring them home! Aside from the puppy and the family Wii system, the favorite gifts were as follows:

Alannah: Jewelry making supplies and beads
Aidan: Interior design studio and spa kits
Susie: Baby Alive (more about her later....)
Dan: Hot Wheels race track kits and RC helicopter

I of course loved everyone being there. but my favorite gift was the handmade bench Scott crafted for me. It is awesome! It is for our new mud room, so it is this massive piece of furniture. It is over six feet long with a nice strong broad seat that we can sit on. There is room for 4 big baskets underneath--one for each of us. It will be a great spot to stash school bags, boots, hats, gloves etc. I am looking forward to all the clutter control this new room will give us in the new year. (Go Honey!)

I also loved getting a subscription to Cook's Country.com (and bound copies of the last two years) I used to subscribe, but had cut it from my budget (very sadly) and boy did I miss it! It is a great complement to my Cook's Illustrated.com subscription--I really need both. AND, last but not least, Scott and I have Wine for Dummies, and will try and learn something new this year.

We spent New Year's visiting Scott's family in Pittsburgh. We had a very enjoyable visit. Scott's mom and step-dad left for Disney New Year's Day, so we took care of their dogs Sammy (a Newfie) and Seiko (a Spitz? she's a big husky like dog). They are the best dogs--massive, sweet and gentle. Coal was beside himself with hysteria trying to make friends with them. the older dogs put up with him for the most part. Coal is a big puppy, but next to Sammy and Seiko he looked like a flea. He followed them around and generally harassed them the whole weekend. Friday night we went to Scott's dad's club and we played Bingo. Alannah won a Pittsburgh Penguin's jersey and $60. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday we celebrated Christmas and New Year's with mom's family. Part of the party was honoring Dad's retirement. It was fun to catch up with everyone--we laughed the New year in! After everyone left Scott and I played Munchkin with my sisters and present/future brother in-laws. This is a hilarious card game, but it goes on forever. I think we played for 5 hours straight. I almost won 3 times and then I "died", at which point I gave up. This was around 1am. Scott said everyone else "let" Eva win around 2am. Again, I laughed so hard I think I hurt something! Hopefully Stephanie (my little niece) will be kind and not be too demanding this week so Andrea recover from her late night.

Phew!

The kids woke up this morning with a school delay (already?!) due to ice. It must have rained in the night. Of course the girls were happy--they got to sleep in a bit. They had about an hour to relax, but they made some jewelry and re-decorated the Christmas tree for the NFL playoffs. Yes, we now have a Steeler's tree! (you can't travel to Pittsburgh and not load up on fan supplies.....) The puppy was sad and confused when they left. He sat by the door and cried. :(

I haven't been called into work yet, so I will focus energy on laundry and re-gearing the house for regular life.

Happy New Year!!!!!