<p>My junior in college S doesn’t leave the house except for: dentist appt, haircut appt, or required visit with the grandparents. He hangs out with friends online via video game. D, on the other hand, has done lunches, dinners, art museum, and sleepovers with friends, but we have still seen plenty of her.</p>
<p>We did get to see her!
We spent five days in her college town as she was cat sitting, then took her back home with us for another few days.( she spent about half that time else where)
I drove her back, but discovered I cant really see to drive at night anymore, so I spent the night at her house. (& boy, compared to getting up in the middle of the night to let the dog out or see what he is barking about, it was very restful!)</p>
<p>D1 (a junior) slept all day and was up all night. D2 (a freshman) was gone all day in my car visiting friends. I think they each needed that more than I needed to see them. :)</p>
<p>The winter break is nice, cause many of Ds friends who are still in school are on the semester system ( she is on qtrs) and winter was the only time for some overlap.
H also has vacation from xmas till after the new years.</p>
<p>S loves to hunker in during breaks, although his staying up until 3 and sleeping until noon cuts down on the time we see each other. He manages to make sure he gets as much home cooking as he can manage.</p>
<p>We’re also the meeting place for his friends. He has two of his friends downstairs in the basement right now having a play date 
</p>
<p>They all eat me out of house and home, nothing like feeding 4 or 5 extra teenage boys several times a week. </p>
<p>I may one of the only people who saves money paying for the meal plan.</p>
<p>Our S1 graduated from college four years ago. He had a tightly knit group of friends in h.s. and they have maintained their friendships through the college years and beyond. They all get together as much as possible when home for holidays. So… he was at home for a week. He ate two meals with us (one of those was Christmas day) and spent one night at our house. </p>
<p>His college roommate came back to our town after college grad. He has a house now so it’s pretty much the Man Shack when all the guys are in town. S1 was in and out of our house throughout the week but we really didn’t see much of him. We’re used to it. He’s always been that way. </p>
<p>DH is retiring this year. We are moving across the state. We will be closer to where S1 lives/works but 5 hours away from our town where he spent his whole life. It will be interesting to see how it works out. S2 works/lives in our town. We see very little of him even though he just lives across town. Even in high school they were never ones to just hang around the house with the 'rents.</p>
<p>We live in Seattle. D1 graduated in 2012 and now lives in Orlando but can’t get time off work during the holidays (Disney entertainer - very busy season). D2 goes to school in Boston. Rather than spend another Christmas in Seattle with only one daughter we all met in Orlando for a week, drove to Venice, FL to spend 5 days with my family then left D2 for another week to hang out with her sister. We had lots of time with both kids including going to Disney to watch our daughter perform. It was an expensive holiday but SOOOO worth it!</p>
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<p>Yes, it is–when I am at work. Unfortunately, we don’t have an unlimited meal plan and breakfast is cereal or yogurt, not delicious biscuits and gravy or bacon and eggs.</p>
<p>My son is going on FIVE WEEKS–the longest break ever. (Two of his classes didn’t have in-class finals so he got done early.) He worked a lot leading up to the holidays and he has one shift next week but has been home a lot. He has been home sick all week during the Polar Incident so it has actually worked out pretty well, and I love having him here.</p>
<p>Nope. Only via skype on Christmas day. boohoo</p>
<p>DS was home 2 weeks, now off for semester abroad. He had to do a lot of catching up on sleep and arranging details abroad (often at night). We are delighted we saw him but wish it were longer. </p>
<p>Alas, the piano was usually idle. It was nice that he played for grandma on Christmas - that’s his traditions… do entertainment while others clean up the dishes etc.</p>
<p>We saw a fair amount of S and D, although as they packed up to leave, I began my secret pity party and wished they could stay much longer. I will never adjust to saying goodbye when they leave. Or maybe I will after menopause if my hormones stabilize.</p>
<p>My D has asked if we could go on a xcountry ski trip with her & her bf, over presidents weekend.
I would love to, but i think H wants to hunker down and watch football.</p>
<p>I have one more week. My D has been spending a lot of time around the house. She attends school nearly 800 miles away.</p>
<p>We don’t have cable, but when D is home she likes to sit with me & watch netflix.
We have similar taste, although I haven’t had the inclination to watch Dr Who from the very beginning.
She also finds the weeping angels more terrifying than I do.
They aren’t very scary on an iPad!</p>
<p>Like eymamom:s S , my S likes to stay up until 3 and sleep until noon. I took 2 weeks vacation from my PT job and enjoyed some fantastic late night talks with him over break…we tried to make a list of “have to do’s”. and “want to do’s” at beginning of break to avoid misunderstandings.He is a planner so it worked out well.</p>
<p>Post #16- doing the chauffeuring honors never meant any quality time with son for H or I. Son usually slept most of the trips. One winter break I had 3 guys’ dirty laundry in the SUV- thank goodness for cold weather. They all slept. The return trip likewise- but the laundry was clean and all sorts of snack foods if we had been stranded.</p>
<p>WA state mom (Bellevue)- our working son ended up in Seattle last spring and we are retired in Florida (Tampa). Nothing like around 3000 miles and 3 hours time zone differences. Son came before Christmas and despite good weather in his, ours and the hub city ((Phoenix) his arrival ended up delayed most of the day because the plane didn’t leave for 2 1/2 hours. Who knew avoiding the northern routes would be problematic? His homebound flights via Minneapolis were flawless.</p>
<p>Post college son got up late and didn’t spend that much time with us, no change from HS or college. At least he had a time zone difference plus usual later starting workdays. At least he got to see our finished house renovations- he saw it before and during last year.</p>
<p>I found that if I want to see her i have to schedule time with her…and say yes to whatever she wants to do. So it was the day after a big snowstorm and was 10 degrees, but yes we will go to NYC and see your new college! 10:00pm and you want to bake cookies and need to go to the store? Let’s go!</p>
<p>The promise of food always seemed to lure him out of hiding…
Actually saw him a lot…since we had a lot of food…</p>
<p>Now that my daughter is in grad school, she spends all of her time with us when she comes home. She never gets together with her friends form high school anymore . The funny thing is, her 16 year old sister also spent most of her Christmas break with her sister instead of friends too</p>
<p>I guess my kids are different my son in Grad School and his sister in Undergrad both spent time at home and at their younger brothers events etc…</p>
<p>I guess it’s a phase that they go through if they never experienced the freedom/independence at a younger age.</p>