First of all… I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to all and to wish you a very wonderful New Year!

We had a nice little quiet holiday here at the Moby… my girls were home Christmas Eve and we opened our presents and had a lovely dinner and of course, rested and played with new gadgets and all.  It was wonderful after the last 6 weeks of crazy orders and holiday chaos!

We actually processed over 460 orders in the last 6 weeks.  Just unbelievable.  We normally only get a few orders a day, maybe 3 or 4 normally, so when you triple that, things get crazy!  And the orders seem to be bigger, more kits and products and such.

Oh, it’s a wonderful blessing and it really helps us greatly.  We use a lot of the proceeds to do things like upgrade equipment and stock, pay off bills, take care of repairs, cars, etc.  We also use it to have a nice Christmas for under the tree and always try to help our friends as well.  It’s a true blessing, but it’s hard work for sure!   We always have to call in reinforcements!

This year was Tim’s second year in the mine, and he was such a great help.  Rob came to the other side of the business to help out, he’s normally on the music/website/ graphic area helping out but he did a few stints at the rock side this year and now has a better idea of what happens!

Well, around Monday, the orders stopped.  It was done.  Thank goodness!  We sent out the last of the orders and began to clean up and get stuff put away.  To reclaim our home!  We were all cranky and tired and grumpy and I was glad that the girls went off to their Dad’s for a few days to chill out.  I worked hard to get the place whipped back into order.  They helped when they came back and by Christmas Eve we were back on track and ready to have a few days off.

And we have.  They are back at their Dad’s for a few days and I have spent the weekend doing nothing much more than playing with my new iPad, napping and watching numerous episodes of Monk on Netflix.  Gypsy is doing good, and we’ve spent many an hour cuddled on the couch and just taking it easy.   It’s hard for me to do, but I really think I needed the down time.

I’m ready to hit the ground running tomorrow, well, at least walking hard.  I know it’s going to be a little weird to transition back into normal life, and I do have one more holiday weekend ahead, but I think I’m going to try and make sure that I get one card done a day this week.  Once we hit 2011, it will have to ramp up a bit, but I think one card a day, that will get me started again!

I did manage to get a batch of sauerkraut going… that is something new and fun that I hope works out.  Santa brought me a awesome jar for it… how did he know?  And my first batch of ale is actually showing little bubbles… I’m so excited.  I can’t wait to get to some knitting and quilting and just some mild easy work for January.  I need a little hibernation time!!!

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday time…  and we have the best wishes for our friends, family and readers!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Sherri, Jessy, Maggie and the critters!