Christmas Isn't Really Over Until All The Cookies Are Gone

        It's Saturday, January, 3, the day after January 2,  the day the Christmas holidays (or whatever holidays one opts to celebrate or not celebrate  between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day) officially close for the season.
          Today I intend to take down all the decorations,

...except for the Christmas arch that we set up every year, 

​...both the setting up and taking down of which is a whole day's operation usually carried out with the help of our son and a measure of agita.

      And yet while it's up and glowing, the arch is a source of such visual delight to ourselves and, we're told, the neighborhood, that its construction and deconstruction are worth the effort.

      So the arch will stay up a few more days. But the rest of the holiday things will be put away until next year. Including the holiday eating.
       Oh, that holiday eating. The feasts we had. In our house the feasting began on Christmas night, when the first of our out-of-town loved ones arrived for a too-brief, too-quickly-over six-day visit. 

       The next night we ate at the Sakura Japanese steak house, to which we all gave five stars.

     On the morning of December 28 my daughter Claire and her husband Miguel arrived from Chicago, and  after a quick brunch of waffles and Miguel's sublime specialty scrambled eggs, 

...we all hit the ground running to get ready for a feast with family and friends that evening.

      After the company left, everyone laden with leftovers, the family gathered in the family room for a movie and games.

     The following morning, Monday, the plan had been to go out for brunch. But as it turned out, everyone was once again jonesing for some of Miguel's eggs and my waffles, so we brunched at home, where it was generally agreed that the food was superior to restaurant fare.

      The next morning, Tuesday morning, was our last day of holiday feasting, when two more local relatives joined us for a final brunch, this time with French toast, tater tots, fruit salad, and Miguel regaling us with two batches of eggs, one mushroom and one veggie.

      Early the following morning, New Year's Eve, all our out of town loved ones left. On New Year's Day, the last day of the Christmas season, I suggested to my mate Tom that the two of us ring in the new year by going out to dinner at Fado, an Irish restaurant at nearby Easton Town Center.
​       Easton was still festively lit up,

...Fado was cozy,

...and the food, Tom's super-tender pot roast and my tasty shepherd's pie, was just what we were in the mood for.

      And now it's January 3, time to take down the Christmas decorations and stop the Christmas eating. Except I still keep seeing these cookies and candies around the place.

     So I guess Christmas isn't quite over yet.