I Can't Believe It's Over!

I guess I'm kind of like a lot of other people in that I am always a little disappointed when Christmas is over. We spend so much time in preparation that we kind of don't want it to end. I will say, it's a good thing I'm a crafter. Because, even while I am already missing the excitement of Christmas (and my house is still decorated but the family is gone), thoughts of Valentine's Day have started to creep into my mind. I don't usually start to take down Christmas until January 1 but when that is done, I will go straight into Valentines. I used to decorate for "winter" for a few weeks until I realized just how much extra work I was giving myself by taking down all of the Christmas red, putting up white and pine for just a very short time only to take that all down and go back to the red. I finally caught on and decided to "skip the middle man".

My entire family (15 of us) and 5 large dogs made it here this year. It was a loud, crazy, furry, crowded chaos...but we loved every minute of it.

 The last of the family left yesterday so I am using today to get sheets, comforters and towels washed, extra serving pieces and dishes put away, etc. After that, there are a few extra notes and cards to write and mail and 2020 calendars to get set. There is more than enough to keep me busy until the new year arrives. Take down is always hard but I am already getting some Valentines ideas floating by so I think I will be ready.

In the meantime, I want to chronicle just a bit of our holiday. For some reason, I am never good at taking a lot of pictures during the fun. My SIL took the ones of these that are actually clear. I wish I had taken more but, I was just too darn busy enjoying.

This is how the family room always looks before anyone arrives. I push all of the furniture back to the walls so there is lots of empty floor space for gift opening-and, this year, extra space for more fur babies.

And, before I know it, cars start arriving and the room soon starts to fill up. 

And, any time I can get all 7 of my grand children in one place, there has to be the obligatory "Nana" picture!

The day after Christmas, we got all of the females together to go see "Little Women". What a treat to have them all here for that. Oh how I wish we were all always in the same town and could do these things more often. But, when they do happen, I have learned to treasure them all the more!

There are no big plans for New Year's Eve at my house this year so this will probably be the end of my posts fro 2019. I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday and I will see you soon to get the new year going! Stay tuned.