Hey-Ho the Holidays are OVER!!

The jingle of bells is softening. The blinking lights are off. The hustle and bustle of having way the hell too many things to do and far too little time is winding down. The joyous season of not-the-holidays is finally upon us. I doubt my Santa-crazed 3 year old would agree, but let’s face it, he didn’t have to bake pies or shop for presents. So, as I reach the time when I simply can’t put off taking the tree down any longer, I want to recap, for those who couldn’t join us, the highlights of the holidays.

Knights, dragons, and castles. Yup. That was it. Jake got a ton of cool knights and dragons. He got a really cool castle from Santa (to which his stunned response was simply “WOAH.” What could be better?). He got a dragon puppet from his Uncle Dave, which he adores. He got knight books, knight Legos, and knight Playmobil toys, and gift certificates to Barnes and Noble, which he used to buy MORE knight books. I think you get a good picture of what the house looks like now. If we are surrounded by the SCA, I think we’re covered.

New Year’s Eve was a fun day. Mom, Steve, Jake and I went to the California Academies of Science in Golden Gate Park. Jake loved the sharks, bat rays, penguins, jellies, tide pool interactive area, rainforest, the giant skeletons of whales and dinosaurs, and the cockroaches. OK, he mostly loved the cockroaches because they made Mommy and Ama go “EEEEEWWWW!” but he’s a boy, what do you want? He got his picture taken hugging the white alligator (no, not the real one) and played in the indoor snow. That place is all kinds of cool. He can’t wait to go back and neither can I! I love that, while he’s not ready to learn about any of the things he saw yet, he loved going and exploring. I foresee many more trips to the city and the Exploratorium coming soon!!

The rest of new year’s weekend was rainy, so we went to Wacky Tacky in Roseville/Rocklin. This is also someplace where we will spend a lot of time. It’s like the biggest McDonald’s playground you’ve ever seen x4 and add pneumatic guns and a fountain that shoot foam balls. Without the crap food. It was cool.

So the rush is over. The presents are unwrapped. Santa is safely back at the North Pole doing whatever the heck it is he does for the other 11 months of the year. And my child is already asking if it’s Christmas yet again. I guess Macy’s isn’t the only one that wants it to be Christmas all year, but as for me… I’m so very glad it’s over.