Back to work...sigh. This year was a bit different because Christmas and New Year's were both on Sundays, so the holiday was taken on the following Monday, which means I didn't have to go back to work until today. It's been a typically busy Christmas season. I've been off work since Dec 23rd, and we took advantage of the 'kids bowl free' offer twice right away. Judy and Neill arrived here Christmas eve on her way north, and we did the walk through of the holiday decorations at Center Lake Park (COLD) Chrsitmas Eve, presents Christmas morning (Alex got the long coveted Nintendo DSI, Missy her Bitty Babies dolls) and Christmas dinner with them (featuring a Rowe family farms turkey). The day after Christmas we all drove up to Michigan to visit the rest of Beth's family. We stayed at Ted's house (COLD) while we were there. Since the divorce, Ted has turned his new house into a real Ted house, with displays of taxidermied animals, fishing poles, lures, hunting rifles, and the like all over. He told us he decorated with all the things Jeanne wouldn't let him put out before. We did Christmas with the Pinksters at their new house, followed by seeing "The Adventures of Tintin" at Crossroads Mall with everyone and then doing the mall until it was time to go home, because Laura and Thomas and Ben were coming here on the 28th. We did another present exchange with them (you should have seen Missy's face when she unwrapped the Monster High doll...not impressed, a bit disturbed) and decided to go out to a movie (we all saw "Tintin" again...Thomas is a big fan of the books) and a nice restaurant instead of presents with the adults. Unfortunately, we wound up at Barbee Hotel, which we had thought was supposed to be really nice but was o so not all that. But anyway, it was a nice time. Apples to Apples too, you know. They were here long enough for Iris to chew through Ben's headphones, so on the 31st we went shopping in Goshen to find him some good new ones and a few other things. New Year's Eve we spent at the Joneses for the second year in a row, playing card games and Rock Band and eating munchies. The kids were up past midnight this time, and a little disappointed I would say, by the lack of anything really happening at midnight. Then all that's left is the cleanup.