the holidays are finally over

Tree in the living room.

It's January 10 and it's finally time to take down all the Christmas decorations. Normally I would do this the weekend after New Year's, but I had the family down for our Christmas dinner this weekend. I cooked for a total of 17 people, eight of which stayed with me for the weekend.  Some drove down from New Hampshire and some up from New York. We had a grab bag gift game, which is always fun.  I ended up getting ear buds, plastic storage containers for food, a plush throw blanket, a tea light holder, and some candles. All useful stuff. Dinner was ham, au gratin potatoes (I used The Pioneer Woman's recipe and they were delicious!), sweet potato and apple casserole, glazed carrots, stuffed mushrooms, stuffed shells, corn, and bourbon meatballs.  Dessert was tiramisu cake, apple knobby cake (my sister made them with my apples), brownies and cookies. Oh, and vanilla ice cream.  Yes, we were stuffed!  This morning for breakfast I made a french toast casserole and my sausage and hash brown casserole--I didn't want to make 10 different breakfasts.

My niece and I took a trip to Best Buy this morning in the pouring rain.  She's gets an awesome employee discount and I needed a few items. I got a power bank so I don't have to worry about finding a place to plug in a phone or tablet charger.  Bob got a bluetooth keyboard case for his little Microsoft tablet.  I got one for the iPad.  And I got a 10-foot USB charger.  I would have bought two, but another niece has one that she doesn't want.  I just tried out the iPad case with the keyboard a few minutes ago.  I like it, but it's going to take some getting used to.  It was a little awkward, but that might be because I was trying to use it like a laptop.  In other words, I had it on my lap. (I LOVE that laptops and tablets fit FLAT on my lap now!!  My stomach isn't in the way anymore.)

Everyone left by 12:30 pm today.  Once everyone left we did some quick cleanup and then went out for a bit. We really just wanted to get out of the house for a bit.  I captured the kitties taking some well-needed Zzzzzs; the kids kept them busy.

Bailey, Louise, and Oscar.

Leia. She's next to the wood stove.  I think she's hoping for another fire.  

It's way too warm today, though.

Now that everyone is gone, it's time to take down all the decorations. Finally! I left everything up so it would still feel like Christmas, but I'm pretty tired of looking at it now. And the Christmas tree is just about petrified.  It seems like so much work goes into the holidays, and then they're over in the blink of an eye.  It's the one holiday that we put a ton of money and effort into.  At least we get to enjoy the festivities for a month or so before we have to un-decorate (is that even a word??). I'm always a little sad when Christmas is over, but there does come a point when I can't stand looking at the tree anymore.

Tree in the family room. This thing is DRY!

And this just about sums up how I feel now that all the hoopla is over with and the house is once again very quiet.  Laundry and dishes are done, and the house is cleaned up.

Thelma, sleeping like a champ. Go, Thelma! Go!