Back to Normal

I love the holiday season, but after weeks of it it's nice to return to normalcy.  With the help of our house guests we've eaten most of the Christmas leftovers and sweets, and I’m trying to get my diet back on track.  Last week at this time all the kids were home and all the bedrooms in the house were filled.   Gradually, they’ve emptied out and tonight they’ll be completely vacant; after dinner I'm taking Son Tony to the airport so he can catch a flight back to Phoenix.

Even at work things are returning to pre-holiday season status.  Extended holiday hours are over, so the mall opened an hour later (now back to the regular schedule).  The store across from the Customer Service desk, which last week still had a Christmas display in their windows, today had the windows covered  with large pieces of white fabric while they changed them.  The piped in holiday music was gone (THANK GOODNESS!), replaced by a combination of smooth jazz and pop.  A few of the temporary kiosk stores were already gone, and the huge tree in the middle of the mall was being disassembled.

At the end of my shift I didn't have any problems getting out of the parking garage.  The temporary stop signs at the entrance to the garage had been removed, an acknowledgement that the massive traffic flow is over until next year.

It's all good.