Yesterday the gingerbread house was tossed into the bin, so for us the holidays are officially over. We each gave the house a kiss and said goodbye. (I can't think of anything useful to do with stale gingerbread.)
This year we adopted several practices that I hope will continue next year. I've told all family members about this, so there's really no excuse for them not becoming traditions. (1) Constructing a gingerbread house from a kit. I will in no way condone the making of said house from scratch. (2) Indulging in a really awesome advent calendar, like ones from Lego or PlayMobil. (3) Playing a board game with the family. This year we played "Battle of the Sexes," which is an absolutely ridiculous game. Some of the questions were just plain baffling, so the winners are really just those who were lucky. One particularly painful example of the arbitrary nature of "Battle" took place at Christmas II. The boys' team (Tay, Owen, and J) landed on a wild card that sent them all the way back to the beginning; Owen broke down in tears. It was ugly. So, you can see why this should become a tradition, right? Maybe next year a different game.
Today is the last day of Owen's vacation from school. I'm looking forward to going to the gym on Monday and doing some work again. Not sure Owen's ready to go back to school, but at least he has lots of spiffy new clothes to wear.
Taylor and I are enjoying all our xmas pressies: soda maker, clothes, books, homemade vanilla and body oil, homemade cards, jewelry, and a sweet remote-control helicopter (actually Owen's but we're all enjoying it, even Auntie S and sidekick J).
Yesterday Owen drew a picture of the United States on his new easel. Then we played school. Guess who got to be the student.