Annual Pajama Day

I sheepishly declare New Years Day to be a pajama day!  I'm still in my slippers and the only change from when I came downstairs this morning is the coat that is on over top of my nightgown and sweat pants.  I had great intentions this morning - but I conceded to a pajama day given that I really wanted to spend the day in bed sleeping.  I didn't sleep all day - so staying in bed clothes seems like a positive in light of the urge I had to just be in bed.  I felt groggy and sleepy all the day long and resisted.

I wasn't completely unproductive - I did go through the 1000s of emails in my personal home email and clean them out a bit.  I don't check that email daily and it really built up over the break.  I also culled through all the calendars we received and ensured we have a 2016 full year calendar up in the kitchen.  I kept a spare just in case.  I swear - just donate $10 to The Nature Conservancy and you will never need to purchase a calendar ever again.  Same with address labels.  And if you donate to Toys for Tots, you will also get flat wrapping paper annually which comes in handy.

J. was very productive hanging out in the living room taking down the Christmas tree while listening to the football games on TV in the family room.  We did manage to toss a few things and I realized that J. used a gazillion 'round ball' ornaments on the tree and left a lot of other unique, beautiful ornaments off.  Hopefully next year, we will have more special ornaments - though I have to say that J.'s tree decorating skills are the bomb and every year, I think 'that's the most beautiful tree I've ever seen'.  Maybe it's all the love and care he puts into it - but it's really, really pretty.

We didn't make a last minute New Year's Eve trip to any donation site so we will start the year off with some donations that have missed the 2015 window.  I'll be kicking myself in April when we do our taxes but oh well.  We had a really fun family day away from the house and we all needed it - it was fun to get out as a group.

One of our favorite things to do with leftover beef is to hash it - chopped up an onion, boiled and chopped some potatoes, chopped up the prime rib leftover from Christmas dinner and cooked in a big skillet, letting it get crispy and yummy in the pan.  We've also been using the roast for sandwiches but I had one for lunch today and the roast was getting to the 'too dry to enjoy' point - so time for hashing!  Tomorrow, we'll add some scrambled eggs and make it a breakfast hash - and that will be the end of the prime rib.

Facebook keeps reminding me that three years ago today, B. was picked up by the Army recruiter and started his journey to life in our Armed Forces.  Hard to believe it's been three years - but it has.

Tomorrow, I definitely plan to get dressed in the morning and get moving.  Lots of things to do outside not to mention lots to do inside, too - still have the garlands on the stair banisters and they need to come down.  Still have gifts in the living room that need to be moved up to bedrooms and put away.  Did I tell you we found an unopened shirt of H.'s from last Christmas in the playroom?  I could have wrapped it and put it under the tree again but I didn't have a comparable gift for B. and we keep things pretty 'even' at Christmas.

I'm heading up to bed in an hour or so and am going to do my best to get up earlier tomorrow - I fear Tuesday's 5:15AM alarm clock 'cuz it will have been 17 days of NO alarm clock and my body has adjusted to it's 'norm' - and that's waking up between 8-9 daily.  I get my best sleep between 4AM and 8PM so to give that up again and go back to early mornings is something that I absolutely dread.  Not that I dread it enough to keep waking up early on vacation - 'cuz I know I should and could do that. But no, I won't 'cuz that's not a vacation.

2016 is off to a calm, serene, low-activity start but that's just today.  There's still 364 days ahead!