The morning after...

  Well...here we sit.

   All the gaga is over, the fridge is bursting with leftovers of various and sundry sort...and the house is quiet.

  My brother-in-law just left for Minnesota, heading back home, laden with gifts for the sisters who live there. Fed him a big bowl of oatmeal with walnuts and raisins and a couple of cups of good coffee, and he is on the road.  Husbandman just took Molly, the Jack Russell Terrorist in the truck, where they will drive to the local reservoir and she can run until she drops. The house is a little disheveled, but nothing too bad.  And right now I can hear the sound of a dog munching kibble and the furnace whirring in this 34 degree morning and all is right with the world.

  We had a great Christmas.  Nobody got too excited or upset about anything, we had a balanced weekend of activity and rest, of  cooking and eating relatively healthy foods, and so much love and laughter that it almost makes me cry to think about it.  It as just GOOD, darn it.    :)

  The Irishman still has today off and goes in to work tomorrow. I go back to MissB's this afternoon around 3. I will try to clean up a little and maybe slice that turkey breast I cooked last night. We ate ham for supper, with sweet potatoes from the garden and a big pot of green beans with onions and garlic. Nobody goes hungry around this house. lol  

  There's still an apple pie sitting on the island in the kitchen,  someone brought it for the party on Friday. Himself can take it to work tomorrow..the guys will eat it. Maybe the leftover cookies too.

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  There's always something so anticlimactic  about the end of the holiday week.  Or is it just tranquil?  lol  I got the cooling racks I wanted as gifts, along with a couple of books,  from the Irishman. His brother gave me an Advent Calendar and a 21 year Minnesota AA coin. (lol--I think he thought we didn't have those here--but I appreciate the thought). My kids got me coffee syrups (vanilla, hazelnut and peppermint), a pair of penguin pajamas and a box of chai tea latte mix.  It was a wonderful time, all in all. And now I just want to go snuggle back in bed...lol...but, it's 10:30 in the morning  so that's probably not a good idea.  Even though none of us had a lot of money to spend, we did alright. I made the kids a gift basket with salsa, jellies and a pound of Sumatran coffee beans, 2 gas gift cards and an ice scraper mitten for their cars. The oldest grandson got a pair of gloves and hat and the youngest got a Twilight game, a pizza gift card, and a fleece blanket.  My husband got a Backyard Orchardist book he wanted, as well as one about weeds. He also got gloves, ice scraper, and a calendar of  [Mini] Weapons of Mass destruction, which has pictures and directions for building catapults and things on each month. lol  As you can imagine, him being a boy and all, he LOVED that.

  And now, here I sit in the quiet. 

  Loving my life, loving my family and loving my friends.

 All in all, a good way to feel, on this, the 2nd day of Christmas.

  Blessings...

Namaste.