I know all of you are dying to hear about all the tabloid-quality events that happen around the Adams household on a regular basis, but since those are purely fictional, you're just stuck hearing about the boring and mundane stuff instead.

As for the above question, our holidays were quite lovely. Justin's office was closed on Thursday and Friday before Christmas, he took off the first three days of the next week, worked a half day on Thursday and was home on Friday. If only half-day work weeks came around more often...

On Christmas Eve we had dinner with some friends from church. A true American melting pot family -- the husband is Haitian and went to medical school in Panama, the wife is ethinically Indian but grew up in Malaysia, they met in Boston and have three really nice, very American teenage daughters, who dote on my children. The kids fell asleep on the way home, so getting them into bed wasn't an trouble at all.

Christmas morning they woke at their usual time. I would love to believe that they'll keep doing that and not try to roust us out of bed at 4 some Christmas morning, but I suspect that is a vain hope. However, try as they might some day -- they will not be rousting us that early. I have duct tape and know how to use it. :)

Although I never really wanted to get into the Santa myth, my son is absolutely convinced that he is real. Nothing can talk him out of that belief, so I play along. He'll stop believing soon enough. Santa brought the kids a tricycle, a couple of stuffed snowmen and two jingle bells from his sleigh. Wasn't that nice of him?

Most of the kids' presents went over pretty well and were just what we wanted for them. The Girl got some cute sparkly shoes and The Boy got an especially cool helmet. The Baby didn't get much, but then what could she possibly need? SOMEONE wasn't thinking when she bought her son a croquet set. In the hands of his two year old sister, a croquet mallet and ball are dangerous weapons. That particular item has since been removed to the attic where it will reside until some sunny Spring day when The Girl is taking a nap.

I entered the modern age and got a cell phone for Christmas. I decided it would be good extra insurance to have and so broke down and asked for one of the pay-as-you-go ones from Virgin. I really intend to use it only rarely, so I'm not giving anyone other than Justin and The Boy's school the number. I didn't even give the number to my in-laws who bought it for me.

I also got a fancy new nine-speed handmixer, a huge mixing bowl and two new cookbooks, one of which looks to have the definitive banana pudding recipe. I'll report back on that later.

After Christmas came our seventh anniversary. My in-laws were in town for the night, so they babysat and we went out to a really neat restaurant that we'd never tried before.

The next day we piled in the car and went to Kentucky to visit more of my husband's relatives. We basically had a second Christmas up there with more presents, which seemed a bit overwhelming, but it was nice to visit with everyone.

I remember a time when I couldn't wait to be old enough to stay up until midnight to welcome in the new year. I've gotten over that now. As soon as The Baby fell asleep, I was out on New Year's Eve. I think I made it until 10:45. Not the most exciting way to ring in the new year, but it worked.

And now things are more or less back to normal. The Boy returned to school yesterday and Justin started a regular work week. I didn't make any resolutions, but I'm hoping to have cleaner floors this year and so bought an industrial size dust mop to aid in that venture. We'll see how long I remember to use it.