Much less up and down, but not particularly special or fun. Got some good presents, though.

I've been an aunt for almost 25 years; in fact, now I'm Great-Aunt Janet. It's been fun.

I'm going to be doing absolutely nothing on New Year's Eve for the second year in a row. That's a bit lame.

It's been a quiet one, but good! NYE is overrated as hell, amro, ya ain't missin' a thing.

News-wise, the holidays have been mostly unremarkable, which is a good thing IMO.

And I agree with chewie- NYE is overrated. I'd rather be at home.

Fireworks are pretty.

I'll give you an up and down christmas ;)

*rowr*

A very up and wonderful Christmas. Came home to bad/sad news (sister's husband walked out on Christmas Eve). I'll be spending NYE with friends.

I really, really like the Christmas card you sent me, Seanyboy. It totally rocks.

I'm sorry about your friend's sister, seanyboy, but congrats on becoming an uncle! Yay!

My holidays have been kind of rough, actually, and hormones have magnified everything. BUT I've got a kid here who just made a rocket from her Cranium Super Fort and is zooming around, wearing a space helmet and asking me questions about Mars. So, I won't complain.

Mine have been up and down as well. I've decided I have to rethink Christmas - doing the whole traditional thing just doesn't seem to be fun for anyone anymore and so I sort of feel like, well, fuck it. If nobody's enjoying it, then why bother? It seemed like I couldn't see past the stress and work and the kids bitched constantly. I miss having little kids who liked getting presents as opposed to teenagers who just want cash and nothing to do with you.

On the bright side there is this three day weekend which I plan to utterly waste luxuriously and my cold is finally going away, so yay. And my heart goes out to those of you who have lost people and have real sorrows; in the end analysis, I have nothing to complain about.

Up: Had two job interviews that I had to stay in town for over the holidays but that went fantastically and will know soon.

Down: Spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning by myself.

Middle: Reading David Sedaris's Holidays on Ice and cracking my ass up in a cafe.

Mine was fairly sucky, and I'm really glad it's over. The cherry on top is that I feel guilty about having had a bad time with my family, especially since my mom has been sick. I could handle the unpleasant holiday on its own, but the guilt really sucks.

We hosted my mother-in-law for a week (wherein I learned that a) my potatoes need more salt, b) we keep the house too cold and c) Mel Gibson is a hapless victim of the media); she left yesterday morning. We have seen three movies since yesterday (An Inconvenient Truth, The Queen and The Departed) and are now relaxing in front of the fire, eating snacks, watching TV and catching up on reading. And Dante the cat is lying as close to the fireplace as he possibly can, warming his tummy.

Sublime.

I don't have much to complain about. Just a general sense of blah. Probably the come-down from all the holiday hype.

Big, warm hugs to those who had sucky holidays.

Uncle Seanyboy!...there's a little girl for who I'd love to be auntie brujita. I thought that flying back on Christmas would mean a mostly empty plane (I'm a Jew): no no--it was packed to the gills and I was stuck next to a huge kid who was crowding into my space.

I was there while my father took his last breath, spent the rest of the night taking a relative to the psych ER.

Aw, Sticky! I'm so sorry.

Damn, StickyCarpet, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry too StickyCarpet. That's awful.

Thanks, all. At least the third shoe never dropped. With all the driving around an unfamiliar city, in an unfamiliar car, with a panicking passenger, at night, in the rain, I was half expecting to cap off the day with a car accident.

BTW, the psych ER was like a ghost-town on Christmas eve and a madhouse on Christmas day, and I was told that's typical.