Things to Do Before Christmas - The LIST

A little while ago, Mouse and I counted the days before Christmas and at the time there were about 32 days left.

She moaned “That’s FOREVER! I can’t wait THAT long! Whine, whine”.

In my head, I’m thinking “Oh man! Only 32 days! That’s not enough time! ACK”. So I said “Well, there are a lot of things we have do before Christmas – decorating and baking and gifts, then Nanny and Poppy will be here, so the time is going to go by really fast”.

With that dramatic pout she’s famous for, she huffs “No! It’s NOT”.

Ah, it’s tough to be 4 years old at Christmas.

However, I have a "cure" for the Christmas waiting blues. Tomorrow morning, the girls will open the first door of their Advent calendars to eat a tiny shaped piece of waxy chocolate. In the MORNING! Every day! For 24 days! It’s like a Christmas fortification vitamin. Mmmm. When my brother and I were kids, this was one of the many highlights for us at Christmas. We loved that almost tasteless, waxy textured chocolate.

So, "The List". My Mum is a planner. She loves to make lists and to her, no day is truly complete unless “something has been accomplished”. (I mean that in the nicest way, Mum! *kiss*) I don’t think I ever remember her not being well prepared for the holidays. Cards were addressed and sent well in advance, gifts bought, wrapped and stored, parties planned, baking baked and frozen (and hopefully not eaten on the sly by little brother).

I have inherited, to a degree, this list making/checking off tendency. However, I’m less efficient and less organized. When it comes to Christmas I think I generally do pretty well in getting things out on time and have been working harder to be better at it. I told my Mum last week that I would have the Christmas cards done AND the girls Christmas photo ordered before the end of this weekend. I don’t think she believed me. I’m happy to report that I have the cards 90% done and the photos are ordered and will be in this week. Whoo!

I also have most of the gifts purchased and hidden (I hope I remember where) and I’ve figured out almost all of the few I have left to do. Donation gifts for the collection at Hubster’s office have been purchased and are awaiting his delivery. We have some lights up on our house and a bit of decorating done and yesterday when I came home from picking up my new glasses, Hubster and the girls had put up our Christmas tree.

However, despite feeling like we’ve had a pretty good start, there are still a lot of things that still need to be done. Some are not necessarily Christmas related, but because I like to challenge myself (ahahaha!) so I can have a frenzied RUSH to the deadline, I’m throwing in a few non-Christmas related goals. Why not!? I’m throwing in the general “how” and deadline dates for these too. Again, why not!? Maybe I’ll be more accountable if I do this and have a witness to “the list”.

Things To Do

*Decide if we are having a holiday party (these always cost more than I think they will and I’m not sure we can handle the expense right now, however, having just moved to our neighborhood, it might be a nice gesture for our new friends and immediate neighbors) Deadline: Wed

* Finish addressing cards, stuff with photos and send out. THIS WEEK (to be determined by delivery date of photos)

* Hubster to deliver office donation gifts. Deadline: Tues

* Sort out office. (Please pray for me) It’s a pit. This entails, sorting out filing, getting books organized on shelves, hanging pictures and finding a home for a bunch of computer stuff. I will need Hubster’s assistance with this. I plan to work a bit on this every day – at least 30 minutes. I will take photos as proof. Oy. Deadline: Dec 13.

* Finish buying gifts. Deadline: Fri

* Send out any gifts that need to be mailed. This depends a bit on some deliveries we’re waiting for. Deadline: Hopefully next Mon

* Decorating. I have a few things I’d like to purchase, but we’re trying to keep our expenses low this year and maybe pick up some after Christmas sale stuff, so I’m going to need to get creative with what we have. The board meeting is Tuesday so I’d like things to be mostly done by then (we’ll actually decorate the tree later on). Deadline: Tuesday

* Wrap gifts. Deadline: Dec 15

* Do away with Dancing Christmas Elmo singing “Jingle Bell Rock”. Deadline: 5 minutes (sorry Hubster’s mom)

* Cleaning and room set up for folks coming to visit. Deadline: Dec 20

* Lose 5 lbs. I’ve gained back some, ok, all of the weight I lost earlier this year (that’s a whole ‘nother post) and I’m GOING to get back into the groove of watching my portions and I’m going to exercise 5 mornings a week, do Pilates 3 days a week and add an extra 15 minute “jog dvd” 3 days a week as well. My hard time is about 3 pm when I want to eat everything I lay my hands on. I’m fine with meals, but am going to PLAN snacks. Obvious deadline: Dec 25

* Figure out the best time to write blog entries. Deadline: Fri

* Take Mouse to see Santa. She wrote her own list this year (with spelling help from me) and requested to go and see Santa at the mall. We don’t push the whole Santa thing and while we’ve gone to “look” at Santa from a distance in the past, she’s always said she didn’t want to go and see him. I don’t blame her because Santa (and clowns) kind of freak me out. Deadline: Next week

* Baking. I need to figure out WHAT I’m going to bake this year and have a plan to deal with it. If I just bake and keep it around, well, that whole 5 lbs thing is out the window. I do plan on making some as gifts so I need to get my giftees organized and go from there. Deadline for planning and baking: Dec 15.

That’s all I can think of now, but I have the feeling I’m forgetting something! I’ll edit as required.

add: I wrote this yesterday (Sunday), but didn't post as I wasn't feeling so well. Sorry if it seems out of sync.