all the guests have gone...

I was ready to have my house back, but not ready for them to leave.
It was so great having my family here, I miss them already and hate that they live so far away.

The tree is down (taken down during naptime to minimize the ornament-meddling) and boxed up, decorations tucked away, toybox put back in its corner and with the rocking horse still in the office the living room seems huge! y'know, especially now that it's no longer fitting 8 additional people. The folding table has been folded and put in the office as well, and the dining table migrated back from the kitchen into its spot. My kitchen now seems huge as well!
The house is pretty much back in order, including the clean load of dishes in the dishwasher that need to be put away and the load of clothes in the dryer that need to be folded. My fridge is full of leftovers (turkey stew, turkey bits for sandwiches, eggnog, sparkling grape juice, purple frosting) and I completely forgot how much I love brown sugar and cream in my coffee. I MIGHT have had a cup and a half of coffee today, no sense in letting the last bit in the pot go to waste! There is a large stack of games sitting on D's high chair tray, and a pile of paper snowflakes on my desk. New toys are stacked next to the toybox since there was no room for them in the toybox itself (I need to do some toy-culling!)
I took lots of pictures, they'll be uploaded eventually. For now, I just got the call that my family is safe and sound back in SC (got the call yesterday that bro & SIL were safe in CT) so everyone's good and I'm going to go eat some Wilbur Buds and go to bed. or maybe just go to bed, since D is having troubles staying asleep because he can't keep his pacifier in his mouth due to a stuffy nose. the hacking cough might also have something to do with it. Tylenol, work your magic!
Merry Christmas, everyone!