Returning Back Home After Vacation

1878 miles, 12 days, 9 states, 2 countries

6 people, 6 hotel rooms

We’re finally back home.  And this is going to take a little bit of getting used to.

The coffee pot is not in the room, just steps from the bed. I actually have to go all the way downstairs for a cup of coffee to get the day started.  This is reminding me of my plan to install a coffee station in my bedroom, however.

Breakfast, although included and available at this place, is not ready when you get downstairs.  There is no buffet of croissants and pastries, fresh squeezed orange juice, a hot waffle iron, or a dude waiting to make omelets-to-order.  But maybe, I’ll get up one day before school starts and set out a big breakfast, just to throw the whole family off.

We do not have to check to be sure we didn’t pick out a sibling’s/child’s/parent’s shirt or underwear out of the suitcase before pulling them on.  To pack for our most recent roadtrip, I packed half of everybody’s clothes in one of two suitcases so that we would only have to drag one suitcase in to the hotel, instead of five.

There’s nowhere we have to be today.  There’s no sites that we must see because we’re on a 48-hour schedule. We don’t have to figure out how many hours and miles to our next state and decide whether we should eat in this city, the next, or in the car.  We packed and accumulated a lot of snacks (and wine) while out on the road.

We’ll all be eating the same thing for lunch and dinner, whatever that may be.  There’s no option for six different meals to be brought out to each person’s individual tastes.

We will not be in arm’s reach of each other 24/7.  We can go in different rooms, even outside, by ourselves if we want.  So, I might admit that I liked hanging out with my kids and hubby all day. Sure, there was some bickering, fussing, even some tears, but it was good.  Our regular schedule splits us into 6 different directions on a daily basis, so this was nice.

We can wander to the kitchen or our outside in our pajamas and no-one looks at us funny.  We’re home.

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O Christmas Tree! How to Decorate & Make it Beautiful

We've been snowed in for the past two days.  Okay, "snowed in" isn't a true description because we actually left the house both days. But school has been cancelled for the past two days.  It's enough to drive one just a wee bit house crazy.

The kids and I baked - and ate - cookies: sugar and oatmeal chocolate chip pecan cranberry.  When I make oatmeal cookies, I have the tendency to kinda throw all kinds of ingredients in them, except raisins because I really don't like raisins in my desserts.  Today, we had fudge brownies.  Our outing was to the gym because, really, sitting in the house eating sweets for two days really is not a good plan. Luckily, it looks like there will be school tomorrow.

Some of the time has been productive - we put up our Christmas tree and most (maybe, all?) of our Christmas decorations.  I used a few tips from decorator, Wanda Alexander, of Panache Interiors.

• Put the lights on in sections - think of filling in one side, or one square area, of the tree, rather than wrapping the lights around it, like I usually do.  This will make taking them off easier come January when the branches have dried and the lights are tangled in there.
• Use lots and lots of ornaments - as many as you've got - to fill in the tree
• With kids and pets in the house, use the long ornament hooks and wrap it around the tree branch, rather than just hang it on, to secure it. You know, just in case a candy-cane happy kid happens to bump into the tree.
• When taking down the tree, carefully and neatly put everything away to make it easier for next year.

Take a look at her tree.

Note the ladder and many many boxes of ornaments.
This is serious work, here.

  

It's packed with ornaments with a pretty angel on top.

Ta da!

We have glass ornaments, even a couple crystal ones, but with a house full of kids, most of our ornaments are kid focused.  There's the ornaments from their first Christmases and little felt ones they made in school.  Barbie graces our tree, as well as Charlie Brown.  We have angels and ornaments from various vacations.  Our angel is from a long ago trip to Martha's Vineyard, our last summer before we had a kid.  I don't know why they were selling Christmas ornaments in MV in July, but anyway, that's where she came from and is one of my favorite ornaments.  Each year, the kids have a good time, pulling out their favorites, looking for their own personal ornaments, excited to put up their special ones on the tree.  It's one of those great occasions of the season, reliving the memories of where the ornaments came from or the class in which they were made.

What are the favorite ornaments on your tree?

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