Whew!

Is it just me or did Christmas suddenly go from zero to sixty in about six seconds.

I realised after returning home that as much as I absolutely adore hauling the four of us clear across state with all of our necessary junk, it wreaks havoc on the kids and parents alike. The kids sleep like crap, become overstimulated, and pick up all sorts of nasty bugs, and the parents sleep like crap (thanks to kids), become overstimulated (thanks to kids noise), and pick up all sorts of nasty bugs (thanks, again, to kids). We did have a great time and got to visit with all of our relatives and friends from "back home" which is good, but I've been paying for it ever since we loaded up and headed home. I also have a sneaky suspicion that it's about to get a bit worse since Reaghan has a runny nose as of this morning.

On Christmas Eve Reaghan "aka Demanda" woke up around 3:00 AM and refused, and I mean refused, to go back to sleep. She obviously had never heard the phrase 'no creatures were stirring, not even a mouse'. Ugh. She finally fell back to sleep around 6:00, only to have the dog jump on the bed and wake her up. Yeah, the dog. We haul two adults, two toddlers, and a dog across state. Yes...we are crazy.

Once we were all up (6:00) the kids were a crack up, though. They loved their new toys and ran screaming all over the house in their new jammies. TMX Elmo was a big hit, and so was the Little People Farm. Once we got home we set up the tent and 'tube' that great grandma got for them...they went nutso in it for about a half an hour.

Now we are settled back in and looking forward to a friendly visit this weekend from some of those friend from "back home". Bill will be spending his New Years Eve cheering the Red Wings on down at the Joe, and I will be having a nice catch up with a gal pal of mine here at the homestead. Who knows...maybe we'll watch the ball drop.