My little sister and her family flew back to Seattle today, where luckily they still have power (now that the blizzards have moved on to Denver and other places). They spent most of yesterday up in Napa, visiting with my older sister and her husband and the nephews, but because I was out most of yesterday with a group of knitter friends, doing a yarn crawl, and Richard was busy having fun with home ownership, we didn't go with them. So this morning we went over for breakfast and stayed until when they had to leave for the airport, which was shortly after lunch. I have no idea how many games of Rat-a-Tat Cat we played with my niece, but it was a lot. There were also a few more games of table-top shuffleboard as well, and since she is sometimes a bit prone to drama, it was hysterical to watch. There were lots of hugs and discussions of upcoming visits, and my little sister and I chatted very briefly about ideas for where we might want to go for our 2007 Sisters Only Weekend, and we ate leftover Christmas cookies and chocolate pie and I promised to email them the directions for how to felt my niece's very floppy pink and blue striped slippers, and then, before any of us were ready, it was time for them to go. And even though my parents are going to get to see them all very soon, since they are flying up in a few weeks so my dad can perform magic tricks for a certain soon-to-be-seven-year-old's birthday party, I suspect that for Richard and I, it will be a lot longer.

It feels as if, now that my little sister has flown back home, and our tree has taken itself down, that Christmas is now officially over. There are still plenty of decorations around the house that eventually need to be put away, and I still do not have to go back to work until next Tuesday, but there are no cookies or fudge in this house, and there is no excited little niece to come bouncing over, wanting to read us stories (and I do not think I can even begin to describe how much I love what bookworms she and the oldest nephew are turning into), and instead of sneaking into the kitchen to steal some dark chocolate M&M's or some cookies, we set up the EyeToy Kinetic and played games, because sometimes getting older just is not nearly as much fun as it is cracked up to be.

The rest of the day has passed in a quiet blur. I started working on a lace scarf I am doing as a sample piece for the yarn store, and we watched an episode of The Simpsons, and then we decided that we were finally ready to watch the amazing cinematic masterpiece that Richard put in my stocking this year, so he popped in Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter and spent the next hour or so alternately gaping in disbelief at the television, or giggling madly. Because I am not sure anything else could herald in the end of a holiday season so perfectly than a (extremely) low budget film with a tattooed, ear-pierced Jesus fights vampires and athiests with the help of a shiny rubber-clad Mary, and a masked Mexican wrestler, and did I forget to mention that every so often, they all also broke into dance and song?

Tis the season for Holidailies