If you have limited time to take off, take it off after Christmas, not before.
In the past we've had time both before and after Christmas and never really realized how essential the post X-mas recovery time is. So we took the 3 days before Christmas Eve off and went back to work for 3 days starting on the 29th. By Tuesday the 30th, I was so exhausted that I was convinced I was going to get sick, so I splurged vacation time and took off the 2nd of January. I feel much better now and may be able to survive the 5 day work week.
Our vacation round 1 was nice. We had a few days to chill and I honestly can't remember what we did. Due to the huge snow and ice storms that hit the Northwest in the two weeks prior to X-mas, we had a downsized McLaughlin Christmas eve at our house. Dad, Sue, and Grandma and Grandpa Mac joined us. It was very low key, but so enjoyable. We did miss out on the big family Christmas which was moved to the 28th in order to have some rest before returning to work. I know it wasn't the most popular decision, but they all seemed to understand. Given my high level of exhaustion the next week, I think that day of rest was the only reason I made it through.
We spent the 25th in Puyallup with the Evans side of the family. Last year we were unable to make it because we spent the night before Christmas in the ER because Joe had the death plague. It was certainly good to be back in the heart of the family and not to join Dr. Disney (seriously) for another Christmas. Everyone was there, the food was delicious, and the gifts were bountiful. It even snowed a bit more to make it a truly white Christmas.
We cruised back down the freeway on the 26th and had one final round of Christmas with my mom's side of things. This is our smallest Christmas, with Mom, Uncle Robin, Grandma Jean, and the two of us, but it's a great way to end the mad rush that we choose to put ourselves through and enjoy. Mom made cream puffs for dessert, so I was delighted! For Christmas Mom gave me our usual shopping trip on the 27th. We headed up to Woodburn and that shopping trip was probably the most productive and satisfying shopping trip of my life. 50% off at Banana Republic. Does it get any better than that?
We had a low key New Years with good friends which was just what we needed. New year's day was our day to take down Christmas and tidy parts of the house that had been neglected in our vacation lack of routine. Since then we've been sleeping between 9 and 11 hours per night (Yes!) and spending a lot of time relaxing. I must say that our version of relaxation is a bit more active than most, but that is simply because I cannot sleep unless I've expended some energy. On Friday and again today we went for a run. It had been awhile, but it felt great to get back out there. Thursday was a gorgeous day with puffy clouds, crisp temperatures and lots of sunshine. We walked downtown to the post office and to return some books at the library.
Then today...we painted the kitchen ceiling. We'd been kind of grossed out by our ceilings for awhile now, but we've been saving carefully since my job may end in June and the economy is in the crapper. It may be better, but who knows? Anyway, our dear friends Kyle and Abbey sent us a gift card to Loews for Christmas and (can you guess?) we ran right out and got ourselves a massive amount of ceiling paint! Last Christmas our friends Meg and Neil came when our house was about 10 days old (to us) and Joe and Neil took down our hideous neon lighting in the kitchen. They replaced it with great recessed lighting, but the shadows left by the neon light spent an entire year on the ceiling. We extinguished them today. Here are a few pictures of kitchen painting.
Joe's also been working to fix our shower drain and today he declared victory. Here are some pictures from that!
