Friday, December 02, 2016

A-a-a-n-d . . . WE'RE OFF!

Or, as I put it in our Christmas letter (which I wrote two days ago; check): "We’re already sprinting down the bobsled track that is the holiday season and soon it will be all I can do to hang on for the ride." Then I pasted in this photo.
My first idea was a ski-jumping analogy, but when I found a photo, that ramp made my stomach knot up and I decided NO holiday season deserved to be compared to THAT; ha!


So, bobsledding it is. The first curve was getting that Christmas letter written. Another major curve is getting envelopes addressed, cards signed, and mailing it all out; I'm hoping to finish that this weekend. I did deliver two Christmas cards with gifts today; first to a neighbor when I walked down to pick up two packages the mail carrier left there, and the second to Brian's violin teacher. So there has been a bit of gift-wrapping, too!

One of those packages contained yarn (you'll have to check my horse blog re the other), so a Christmas gift for my nephew is now on the needles. This precocious almost-five-year-old requested a scarf "in his size" – and red is his favorite color.
The "whee hills" in this run are the three scheduled Christmas parties. Usually I can only make it to two, as there are either conflicts, child care constraints because of Rick being out of town (an annual veterinary convention occurs in early December), or both. But this year I get to go to all three! The first one is tomorrow evening, so today I made some biscotti to take – my first Christmas 2016 baking.

There will be more baking and more parties and more gift-wrapping, along with the Christmas greetings to get off. Oh, and Brian's birthday is Tuesday so I'll be making a from-scratch German chocolate cake for him on Monday, and basketball season has commenced which has us all hopping 3-4 days a week, and I have to take my MIL to at least one more doctor's appointment in Portland next Wednesday. I also need to find someone to do chores while we are in Texas for Christmas, and work, and....

One of my best friends is famous (to me) for saying, "You need to cut off the bottom half of your list!" – or offering to do it for me. Well, believe it or not, we HAVE cut a big item off the holiday to-do list; we're foregoing a Christmas tree this year. I tentatively suggested it to Rick since we are going to be gone for Christmas, but he thought Brian would rebel at that idea. Then Brian asked me in the car a day later if we were going to get a tree, following with, "I don't think we should since we're not even going to be here." Rick waffled a bit more, but finally agreed. I'm feeling a wee bit sad, worrying that I've become Scrooge and wondering where we'll put our Christmas presents, but mostly I'm feeling rather light and free about it. I think having two fully decorated 15' trees crash to the hardwood floor sucked the joy out of that particular holiday tradition – at least for now.

We'll enjoy our evergreens out of doors this year at . . .

4 comments:

Theresa said...

We don't do a tree inside anymore. 5 male dogs and a fir tree inside..KIDDING, but I do wonder sometimes.... We put a big one on the front porch with lights. This weekend we'll likely pick one. If you want some greenery inside, how about a wreath decorated with a few favorites or some boughs over the fireplace?
Enjoy all your parties and have a happy, if hectic, holiday season.

Mama Pea said...

Even though you've got a lot on your (holiday) plate, sounds as though you're very organized. I think not putting up your tree this year is a very wise decision, especially since you won't be home for Christmas. Even though we only put up a little tree (space not available for anything big), it's a chore that I love when it's done, but dread doing!

thecrazysheeplady said...

I'm too sentimental to not put my tree up and goofy about how the ornaments would all be sad...but it was a bit of a slog this year. I think maybe it's just been a long weird year. Next year! Oh, and I just "found" the table in the wool house so I can START to paint my card. It's going to be a photo finish I'm afraid...which is it's own sort of slog :-o. Next year!

Anonymous said...

Great analogy of the fast ride that is December. Sounds like you're off to a good start.
Wise decision to forego the tree this year.