Yesterday afternoon, Chad's parents picked the kids up (both kids; their first overnight with the Pip without us there).
Last night, I stayed late at work, had a lovely dinner out, fought Quicken into admitting that my account was too reconciled, cleaned off my desk of a week's worth of mail, took all the ornaments off the tree and put them away, and then slept so soundly that my back is stiff this morning (apparently my body is no longer used to sleeping the night through and, I don't know, doesn't automatically move or something any more?).
The only bad things about this are (a) look how adorable they are! and (b) I am worried about inflicting the Pip's variable sleeping ability on people not used to it . . .
But as changes of pace go, on the whole pretty nice. Now, pack and dress and off for a whirlwind vacation.