My Holiday summed up in song:

12 + hours driving
11 rest stops peeing
10 bags of presents
9 family members
8 hours of sleep a night
7 days away
6 stops for tolls
5 gift exchanges
4 bottles of bubbly
3 couples pot luck
2 days of recovery
after a drunken New Year's Eve

Being at home was great, seeing my immediate family, receiving my grandmother's china and crystal (yay dinner parties!), spending time with the in-laws, seeing friends...eating waaay too much ham...it all went by so quickly. We passed through some terrible snow in Ohio heading out, which extended our drive a bit, but we made it safe and sound, just $30 poorer from all of the damned tolls. Hubb finally got a burr grinder and a turntable from his ever-expanding wish list, and I got my new Better Homes and Garden's 75th anniversary cookbook, Napoleon Dynamite, and about 7 extra pounds on my midsection. Hubb and I also got matching kitty cat tee shirts, some awesome coffee and lots of wine accessories. It was a highly successful Christmas, and lots of fun was had by all.

We returned last Tuesday afternoon, to unpack and reorganize the house to hold all of our new booty, which included emptying our "china cabinet" (a 1930's armoire in our dining room) to hold my grandmother's old china and crystal that has been handed down to me. I spent the rest of the week shopping, trying not to eat, doing three hours of dishes to clean the dust off of the crystal, and preparing for our New Year's Eve party. I started in on the wine before our first guests arrived to calm my nerves, which proved to be quite a mistake. We had a few couples over for a potluck dinner which went swimmingly, then others arrived for drinking and snacking until midnight. I got a little too liberal with the gin and the champagne, and don't remember anything after about 11:30, except for falling on my ass in front of our guests and emptying my stomach on the bedroom carpet. Apparently 3 glasses of champagne at a time do not sit well for me. Hubb was an exceptional host, whisking me off into hiding before I embarrassed myself too much, entertaining our guests until the wee hours and cleaning up.

So, needless to say, I am slightly embarrassed at my over-imbibing, but am happy to hear that all present had a good time at our little get together...since I don't remember most of it. I was told I was a "cute" drunk, whatever that means...I felt real adorable when I fell on the floor, I tell ya. I think we'll definitely do it again next year, and maybe I'll go a little easier on the wine. I may be ready to drink alcohol again by then.

So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and welcome back! It actually feels nice to be back at work again today after nearly two weeks off, and I'm eager to get back into a normal life routine. My stomach is still angry at me for eating like shit for a week, eating uber healthy for a couple of days, then trying to poison it with alcohol, but hopefully it will forgive me soon. At least I'm already losing that couple of pounds I gained by eating Christmas ham for 7 days straight.