Why do people talk about empty nest syndrome as if it's a bad thing?

I had almost two hours to myself this morning. Nearly 120 minutes of blissful calm and quiet, interrupted only occasionally by the dog running through the living room with a banned item (child's toy, dirty sock, etc.) in his mouth.

And I didn't have to wake up at an insanely early hour to get this alone time. I slept until almost 9 a.m.

Let me repeat that.

I slept. Until almost 9 a.m.

And when I woke up, everyone else (except the dog, of course) continued to sleep. For almost two hours. I LOVE Christmas vacation!

I used the time to de-ornament the Christmas tree, which has begun dropping needles at an alarmingly fast rate. I would have felt guilty not letting the kids see the tree in all its glory one last time, but I'd given Sydney the option to help the night before and her response was something like, "Um, I think you should ask Alex to do it."

Clearly, her interests are in decorating. Not undecorating.

I finished the tree, and still everyone slept. And that's when inspiration struck.

I changed into a swimsuit, grabbed a mug of coffee and headed for the hot tub.

Note to self: next time put the coffee in an insulated mug. Temperatures in the teens means coffee cools pretty quickly.

Gus hasn't quite figured out (or maybe just doesn't like) playing fetch from the hot tub the way Maggie used to do. And so for the most part, he left me alone to soak and relax.

Right about the time I started to try and remember the last time I had this much time to myself in my own house, AJ's face appeared at the sliding door. Still in his pajamas, he waved to me. I waved back. And then he disappeared.

And then I had company.

A short time later, another still-groggy child appeared at the door and waved. By then, I'd been soaking long enough and was ready to get out. Luckily, Jeff had awakened and was willing to join them.

Which meant I got to sneak back into the house for 15 minutes more of blissful quiet.

I'll no doubt pay for it tonight when it's time to get my two little night owls back on a normal bedtime schedule. Reality of work and school returns tomorrow. But for this one last day, I savored the time alone. And now that I'm feeling refreshed and recharged, I will savor the time with the rest of my family.