It's officially over....

It was great while it lasted, but Christmas vacation is officially over. I just got off the phone with my wife who told me that our oldest son is leaving this afternoon for college in Minot...to stay ahead of the freezing rain and half foot of snow that's predicted for Friday. He came home on December 20 -- which was the first official day of Christmas vacation.

Within the last week, I started back to work on January 5th and Scott started college on January 7th -- but still we had the remnant of Christmas vacation, which was Derek lying on the love seat with an X-Box 360 controller welded to his hands. However, with him gone, our lives will change.

No longer will Grandpa have the amount of company at home that he has become accustomed to. No longer will we have the constant buzzing of cell phone instant messaging and calls. No longer will we have every other sentence we speak ending with Derek saying "That's what she said."

Our lives will be dull and predictable again. I feel like I age perceptibly when I don't have the youth of my boys around with their "new" ideas on how life should really be viewed, enjoyed and attacked.

Last night, for instance, Derek had a friend with him when I came home from work. They said they had been sled riding down the mammoth hill that sits behind our house and has the letters M-A-N-D-A-N on its south side. Presumably one of the boys had created a small avalanche on the side of the hill while sliding down. But by the time I arrived, Derek was lying prone on the love seat playing Halo on the 360 while his friend was prone in the Lazy-Boy also playing Halo. I could tell that actual movement among the two had been reduced to minute finger and thumb twitches on the controllers.

So I asked (though already knowing the answer) if the friend would be staying for supper. About a split second later, the affirmative answer was emitted by the Lazy-Boy -- never straying from the game on the TV set.

So Schwan dinner it was...fried Blue Hake, fried potaotes and onions, boiled corn on the cob and baked egg rolls and crab cakes. MMMMM good.

But what to do as I obviously made too much for Grandpa, myself and two 20-somethings. Well, I could eat more -- as I am again dieting. However, that would be counterproductive so I asked Derek and his friend if they could please finish the fish and egg rolls. To my surprise, the Lazy-Boy said he had "hit the wall."

So as I began clearing the table, Derek's friend must have hit the wall and bounced back to the middle of the room...for the rest of the fish and egg rolls were completely devoured. From there, the boys went back into the front room as though they had just finished devouring the entire turkey at Thanksgiving. Lazy-Boy covered up and fell asleep, but Derek was game to do something, anything. So we woke up the friend and off to the malls they went. About 10:30, Derek returned with packages of many interesting things that only a college student who's bored really needs or desires. I will, however, tell him that the chocolate-covered macadamia nuts from Hawaii were good...even though I am on a diet.

So how boring will my life be without Derek and this friend or that friend who all peer quizzically at me when I tell them a joke or provide an interesting insight into their lives? Very boring. However, maybe Derek (er, DVD) will continue to update his blog...so I can continue to provide valuable color commentary on the life of a "Son of a Gun."

Scott (Ttocs), you're going to have to ramp it up a notch or two. You're too studious and too busy with work at KFYR-TV to allow my creative (parenting) juices to continue to bubble and spurt. And what's worse, Derek is taking his 360, two seasons of Hank Hill and one season of Seinfeld back to college. Now what are we going to do on our long wintery nights?

Christmas vacation is officially over. I had really hoped to accomplish something, anything.