Vacation

A full week of no work (except the 3 hours Wednesday night I spent reviewing press ozalids). Joy. I haven't felt this relaxed in such a long time.

Christmas was nice. Rose and I exchanged gifts Christmas Eve before going to a candlelight service, where she did a marvelous job on a vocal solo. Christmas morning we drove north to visit our families.

The rest of the week has been spent sleeping late (that's past 7 a.m. for me), shopping, noshing, watching movies, organizing, playing.

The eating was a little out of control there, but that was quickly brought under control with one batch of delicious, but digestively deadly sugar-free peanut brittle. I found the recipe for it at Susan Maria's site, Bariatric Eating. The sweetener creates a laxative effect if you eat too much. Say no more. In moderation, though, the recipe is quite a treat.

We head back up north tomorrow for a dinner with my family. My grandparents are in Wisconsin for the holidays for the frist time in more than 20 years. While we spent Christmas with them at my parents' home, my grandma wanted to have all of us over to their house. My brothers and I are looking forward to rousing games of Kerplunk on the living room floor--just like we used to play as kids after a huge Thanksgiving meal.

And then Tuesday it's back to work. Damn.