Yep, those are Christmas lights, because let’s face it, most people still have their Christmas lights up. I’d like to draw your attention over to the lovely thumbnail on the left there… I have a new renter, folks. Marti over at “Digital Doorway – Enter The Laughter” was kind enough to rent a space on my blog for the next week. Do me a favor and give her a visit, she has a great sense of humor and I know you’ll enjoy her blog as much as I do – since she’s one of my regular reads.

Christmas was wonderful. Although, somewhere in the back of my mind I had hoped that there would be something spectacular about the last Christmas in this house. Instead, it was a relatively quiet Christmas filled with wonderful food and great conversation.

Everyone is exhausted, including me. The house feels like it is in shambles. There are still boxes stacked in the corner, the tree looks a bit lonely without all the presents piled around the bottom, and the girls’ room is a complete disaster. Which is probably why Kate has escaped to my mom’s house… she’s trying to avoid the post-Christmas clean up.

I have never really been one of those moms who cleans up their children’s rooms. Once they were old enough to do it on their own, they’ve been doing it ever since. Occasionally, I go in and put things away or hang up some clothes or help out rearranging a closet or something… but 98% of the time, it is their responsibility. Which is why Kate’s room will be waiting for her when she comes home. I’ll keep the door closed so I don’t have to look at it.

The entire family seems to be in some sort of strange competition, we’re all trying to see how long we can make it without silverware. All the silverware in the house, with the exception of some large spoons, are in the bottom of the sink. We have a dishwasher, actually, we have 4 of them; Mike, Amy, Ethan, and Katie. All are on some form of Christmas vacation because none are functioning in their usual capacity. Last night some members of this family were attempting to eat leftover turkey and mashed potatoes with the extra large spoons in the drawer.

(my mother and mother-in-law are reading this now rolling their eyes and giving their monitors thoroughly disgusted looks. Deep down they are most likely horrified that I would admit to this sort of thing in a public forum.)

I’ve never implied that I was some sort of June Cleaver. I’ll get around to cleaning up the mess , most likely today or tomorrow… it’s not that I don’t mind the house looking like this, I just have a higher tolerance for it than the afore mentioned ladies do.