Not a creature was stirring...except for a mouse

Hi there everyone!

Can you believe the holidays are over and we're back to the grind again? The holidays were perfect for me. I got to spend some time traveling and being with all of the people I love, had some lazy, lazy laid back days, and had some busy, busy productive days at home. It is so fun to have the kids getting a little older and really getting into the spirit of things. They are also getting to be quite fun to play games with. Our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day festivities were so enjoyable. On Christmas Eve we had a family home evening and acted out the Christmas Story, sang a bunch of carols, ate some yummy treats and set out stockings and cookies and chocolate milk for Santa, then tucked the kids into bed. John and I played some games, then got all of our things taken care of and got ourselves into bed. About 3:00 am we became aware of a very loud rucous in the bathroom. Was it the kids? No. They were asleep in their beds. Was it Santa? No. We could hear it very loudly in both bathrooms, coming from inside the walls. A few days earlier we had become suspicious of a mouse in the house because of curious black droppings we had seen in various locatations around the house. (Especially the kitchen). The tramplings within the walls heightened our suspicions, but since we had set traps out for several days, with no success, and had no confirmed sightings I continued to HOPE that maybe it was a fluke. Well, Last night John was standing in the kitchen when he heard loud stirrings from the plastic bags in the pantry. At first he thought it might be one of the kids, but upon opening the door the elusive mouse sprinted for the coat closet. Bad choice. My experienced husband squealed with glee as he ran for the traps. He baited and set the traps, and then we waited. A few minutes later we heard the trap snap closed. Excitedly we opened the door to find....an empty trap. That tricky mouse had managed to escape after it had eaten some peanut butter and set off the trap. Well now John got serious. He set the traps again, and this time shoved a blanket under the door, so there was no escaping, and then we went to bed. As John had nightmares all night long about battling the mouse, the mouse was apparently having a little battle of its own. When we checked the traps this morning, there was a mouse allright (disgusting!), but there were also 2 holes in the towel, and a huge pile of towel shavings. I am hoping and am very near to praying that that is the end of our mouse saga. John is humoring me by letting me believe that there was only one, but in the meantime continues to check the bread board for more mouse droppings. I am nominating him for the heroic husband of the year award.