Well it has been a really nice break these past few weeks. Since I had a month of paternity leave earlier this year, I didn't end up burning up my usual amount of summer vacation time. As such, I took the past 3 weeks off and I am really glad I did. The weather here has been pretty crazy (snow wise) and not being forced to commute through it was nice. But tomorrow things go back to normal. At least for me. The kids still have another day of school off (beats me why).
Overall our Christmas was very nice. The kids made out like bandits and are already bored with everything they received. Overall we scaled back the number of gifts simply because the kids have so much and they never play with it much anyway it seems. We plan to go through their toys and give away a bunch of stuff they really no longer care about or need.
Jody and I made a deal not to do anything specific for each other this year, and instead we teamed up and did a few things as a combined gift. The big one was an overhaul of our bedroom closet. We ripped out the simple wire shelf and hanger set, and we replaced it with a simple do-it-yourself closet config using ClosetMaid parts purchased from Lowes. Nothing too fancy, but it does give us more hanging space and better organization with the shelves and drawers we installed. It was an all day project and quite a bit of work. I wish now that I had taken a before and after picture to better show the difference.
Overall, 2008 was a good and a not so good year. Losing loved ones and attending funerals fall into the later category. Welcoming a new baby into the family definitely counts towards the good.
Here are some pictures of the kids from our New Years Eve party. It wasn't much of a real party, but we did let the kids stay up and welcome in the new year with the traditional chocolates and apple cider variants.
