It's starting to look a lot like Christmas . . .

. . . is over.

We finished up the final family get-together last night, and so I guess Christmas is officially over. A nice haul was had by all, and happy folks abound. We all ate too much and did so multiple times. Nobody killed anyone at the family gatherings, or even felt the need to do so -- at least that I could tell. One nice thing about our extended family, both on my side and on SWMBO's side, is that everyone gets along reasonably well. We can hang out without tension, unlike occasions in the past. My family Christmas get-together centers more around the gifts and the food, I guess, while SWMBO's side is more about the games. We eat a gigantic Christmas breakfast, exchange gifts, but then move on to playing games (board games, card games, etc.). On my side of the family, we eat, exchange gifts, eat, eat, then eat some more.

Both sides did take time out prior to the gift scramble to remember the focus of the season, or at least what the focus should be. Society has so commercialized Christmas, in the main, that without taking the time out I think we'd soon forget what we are, in theory, celebrating. But the food and gifts and time together is a nice bonus.

So another Christmas holiday comes to a close. Didn't overspend too much and, since we don't do the debt thing, no worries about bills coming due later. Had to move around a bit of money to cover the overages, but it wasn't too bad. We overspent more on groceries (percentage-wise) than Christmas gifts, so I'll keep that in mind for next Christmas. All in all, a great holiday and now a week to reflect on the year past and plan for the year upcoming. Hope all had a Merry Christmas and hope next year brings you health and happiness.

Note: By the way, the picture -- as bad as it may look (for fifteen minutes work) -- was done with my new Wacom pad (one of my Christmas gifts from SWMBO), which I like very much.