Aftermath of another holiday season

So Christmas and the New Year came and went yet again. As always I enjoyed all the time spent with the family - both mine and Mike's and I think I gained about 20 pounds with the amount of shrimp and mushrooms consumed (very exotic food mind you). I am saddened that this was the last Christmas Eve spent at the house on Congress Avenue but extremely excited to host it again at the new digs (with all the new Christmas stuff I could not resist buying at American Sales with their big after Christmas sale!). I think next Christmas Eve we will have both sides of the family over - we certainly will have the room for it. I hope everyone puts that into their little planners now.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Colin and Landon open their presents - I am not offended in the slightest that the cool Illinois sweatshirt I got Colin was tossed aside. I know his mom will make him wear it with pride (even if they got their butts kicked on New Year's Day). As always, I love giving presents. I know their is often aggravation amonsgt the siblings that I refuse to abide by the rules of the grab bag concept but I just can't help it. It is a part of my whole Christmas tradition and I am sticking with it whether you all like it or not. Mike and I enjoyed our time at his sisters - yet again hearing his dad convinced he didn't have a stroke and telling Mike's mom not to eat anything exotic for fear of another blood clot. Always interesting to say the least.

Gift wise, I am thrilled with everything I got. The Altar Boyz show is going to be fun - I am looking forward to a night out with my sisters. Definitely something we have not all done together in a long time. I love my wine journal and box and enjoyed the Bodeans show that Mike got me tickets to. The Bodeans always bring out an interesting group of folks - excellent people watching.

We celebrated Mike's birthday with some friends at Maggiano's. If I had all the money in the world I would eat there weekly.

New Year's Eve was spent with friends and Mike even got a cake to celebrate his birthday there too. I think we celebrated Mike's birthday most of the weekend which was really not that fair! New Year's Day was a good time at the parents although I would have liked a better ending to the Illinois game.

We had a little scare at home when Minnie collapsed after vomiting. She appeared to have a seizure and was a little out of it for a short while. We got her into the vet and he confirmed what we thought and we are basically keeping an eye on her to see if it happens again. Could have been a one time thing or could be the start of something more. We won't know until blood results are done and we see if she has any more seizures. Was definitely scary because I felt completely helpless.

The house remains unsold. We have had a couple of showings but nothing more than that. Still no offers. The realtor for the one interested person we thought we had has not returned any messages from my realtor so who knows. All I know is that this is one of the most frustrating situations I have ever been in. The new house is well on its way to completion. We attend the final walkthrough next Tuesday (Jan 8th). Excited but tempered by the current house not selling and knowing that I won't be moving into the new one for another month.

So now it is back to work and trying to find motivation in this new year to be somewhat ok with going to work every day.