Holiday Rundown

December was a wild ride with lots of events, guests, food, festivities and fun! If we play the numbers game, this is how the month would look:

• 11 human guests, the longest stay was 28 days and the shortest was 2 hours
  
• 6 furry guests, same visit lengths as their human counterparts
  
• A handful of "disagreements" between furry friends - only a couple resulted in flying fur
  
• 3 trips to the vet, one of which had us taking Ivy to a dignified and graceful exit from this world
  
• 2 days of heat pump installation by a really professional company - they were a pleasure to work with (Degree Technologies)
  
• 3 batches of shortbread
  
• 3 doctor appointments, all with SHINING reviews
  
• 2 performances by a little lady (dance class recital and preschool Christmas concert)
  
• 1 GoogleChat in which the soon-to-be new in laws were introduced
  
• 3 nights of Shadows Over Camelot (I was a successful traitor 2 of the 3 :D)
  
• SO MUCH good food, including a huge turkey dinner and a few nights of delectable cheese.....there was other finger food too, but mostly cheese ;)
  
• 3 delicious breakfasts
  
• 3 cans of Awesome
  
• Innumerable thoughtful gifts, including, but not limited to, my mother-in-law's helping with the housework in a huge way, my sister-in-law's leaving me her much-coveted circle scarf, my new MacBook Pro from my dear husband and my son's showing me just how healthy he is and convincing me he will be fine when I go back to work :)
  
• 7 inches of snow AFTER our green Christmas
  
• 1 3-year old who is absolutely smitten with her grandparents, aunts and uncle
  
• 3 indoor/outdoor cats who are likely just recovering from a serious bout of cabin fever
  
• 1 visit from Santa that injected a bit of magic into all of our lives
  
• Many nights of unbathed, over-tired children - all of which were worth it to be able to share the holiday with our families :)
  
• 3 sliding afternoons, followed closely by hot chocolate, of course
  
• 1 very handsome Christmas tree (good call, honey!)
  
• 1 batch of peanut butter balls
  
• 1 viewing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (SO glad to have seen this - thanks mother-in-law!)
  
• Over 200 photographs of everything from Cricut crafts to cookies, from my first baby performing on a stage for the first time to my second baby standing on his own
  
• More than I can count craft projects from school, daycare and home
  
• 7 Christmas specials from my childhood that have now been introduced to my little girl
  
• 1 seriously fast bum scooter who kept us all on our toes (the boy can cover the length of the living room in about 10 seconds)
  
• 4 batches of chocolate chip cookies
  
• 38 Christmas cards sent to loved ones near and far
  
• 6 blog posts
  
• Dozens of repetitions of "the hippopotamus song".
  
• 1 tooth NEARLY cut through the gum (it has been bulging and causing symptoms for a few weeks now
  
• 7 people with sniffly noses or fevers thanks to some crappy little flu bugs and allergies
  
• 1 last minute road-trip to the US to pick up a few things
  
• Many hours spent alternating between a pink princess dress with high heels and nudity by our little furnace girl

That about covers it. If I think of anything else, I'll write an update :)

UPDATE (thanks to Dave)

• A tableful of candy
  
• An unknown number of illicitly acquired jellybeans
  
• Thousands of Santa sparkles in the house and yard
  
• 2 runs with the snowblower to clean out the driveway (and my friend still had to park practically on the road when she and her daughter came sliding)
  
• ~70lb of cat litter
  
• 11 silly hats, 6 racing penguins and, inevitably, a few missing cracker prizes

UPDATE (via Courtney in the comments)

• about 15 trips down the stairs to lug Lily the wanna be cat-ambassador out of the basement
  
• 25 Tassimo Coffee disks
  
• Lots. And lots. of Tea.