Hear that? It’s the sound of no guests.

It is the next to last day of the year, and finally, after a full week of familial hosting duties (my mom and RB’s parents), our house is empty of people and beautiful packages.

We still have absurd amounts of cheese and chocolate.  (You can come over in a few days and help with that, if you want.)  We also have lots of unwrapped, but not-yet-found-their-homes gifts.  I got pretty much everything on my list, including  a number of items I mentioned earlier.  RB always knocks it out of the park, and both my mom and un-laws spoiled me pretty rotten, too.

This was, you may remember, our first Xmas on our own turf.  And it was a lovely change to not fight the crowds at the airport/s, deal with luggage and shipping gifts (although we did do a little of that), or the need to split time between sides of the family and still end up feeling like we’ve disappointed everyone.

This change brought its own challenges, and both moms noted, without testiness, that travelling at the holidays is very stressful.  Hosting is, comparatively, a breeze.  I think arrangements will be more fair in the future.  We go there one year, they travel here (or wherever) the next.  And that’s good enough.

The most challenging and stressful thing to happen was the theft of my mom’s purse the day after Christmas.  I don’t have bytes (or, frankly, patience) enough to recount the whole thing, but although she was able to get home, and later, the purse itself and some contents (no cell phone, no cash) were recovered, it put a major dent in our plans.  We did a pretty good job of salvaging what holiday spirit we could, but far too much time was spent dealing with police  (of both the “good cop” and “bad cop” varieties) and credit card companies, and trying to figure out how to get her through airport security with only a photocopy of her passport and a crime report.

But we survived, and I genuinely think my mom had a great time, considering.  RB’s folks?  Harder to say.  They spent less time here, and had another leg to their journey.  I need a few hours to sit and enjoy the quiet, but I’m preparing other posts in my head:  A Year-End Wrap-up, Resolutions for ’09, and Things That I Should Know By Now.

I hope your Xmas, Yule, or Hanukkah was lovely.