Thanks for all the nice Christmas wishes, I hope Santa was good to all of you!

Things have finally calmed down here after MIL and BIL That Won't Go Away (he's 48, no job, and, lives uninvited with my MIL, long story) came a day earlier than expected. They had a nice visit, but, it was OK with me to wave goodbye this morning. Well, actually, I kind of miss him because he has spent the past 3 days entertaining the kids.

The BIL Who Stays Away (he's 54, and, no one has seen him in years for reasons unclear to almost everyone) called yesterday, that was a good thing, I guess. He's rather, um,"rural", and, had a longtime girlfriend that most everyone disliked intensely. Apparently,she died in April, and, he didn't tell anyone.

Perhaps if we combined BIL Who Won't Go Away with BIL Who Stays Away we could come up with a regular person?

Our first Christmas without my mother was actually a little harder than I thought it would be, but, it's OK. I just wish my father was a little easier to read, sometimes.

I may write something over at GenBetween about it. So, check over there. Feel free to check over there anytime, that can be your Christmas present to me. If you go over there, maybe I won't look like such a loser compared to all the other fine sites in the network.

Anyway, Busy Girl is quite pleased with her clothing and shoe haul, but, has changed clothes 3 or 4 times today, Busy Boy is attempting to wear and use all his Christmas gifts at once, and, we apparently could have just gotten The Preschooler Formerly Known as Busy Baby some Floam, and, called it a day.

Things still haven't quite settled down from Christmas, yet, and everyone is still in a swirl. No one in the entire house seems to be able to settle down and relax. At all. The other adult in the house included. Driving me crazy. Get out of my laundry room. Now.

Busy Girl and Busy Boy were altar servers at Mass yesterday. Since it was Busy Boy's first time ever, so, we have been making a point to sit up close where so he could see what the servers were doing. The routine is different for everyone now since we have a brand new church.

Sunday was a bad example for him as the servers pretty much couldn't do anything right, and, one of them even DFO'd (Done Fell Out).

He keeled over into his seat mates who, instead of breaking his fall, recoiled in horror. He came to, and, Busy Dad, who was sitting closest to him (the servers sit in the front pew) took him outside. He was fine.

Busy Girl is an experienced server, but, I was worried they'd start fighting right there on the altar as Busy Boy can be a bit touchy about her telling him what to do, but, he did a great job. I found out later that the other kids were first timers, too, and, poor Busy Girl was the only one who had done it before.

Since she has no issues whatsoever telling people what to do, she directed things just fine, and, the deacon turned around to see her doing just that, and, laughed aloud.

I have no idea why I just told you all that. It's the only thought I was able to complete in the midst of all this family fun.

Leftovers, anyone? I'm microwaving, keep your seat.