Tis almost the week before Christmas and all through the house I have crap EVERYWHERE and don't seem to be making a bit of progress in this whole Christmas preparation. When you think about it this is pitiful since I am here in a 2 bedroom condo so there isn't much to "decorate" and what ever decorations I have Kaelin and Finn put them up for me 2 weeks ago.
The Christmas cards ALWAYS take up a good portion of pre-Christmas time but they are now finished and on their way to all my friends. Dwayne is shaking his head at the number of cards I send compared to the seven greetings that he sends out. My cards include photos and letter because I know I love catching up with everyone during this holiday season and so I want to bring everyone up to date on my life. I figure if you really don't care you are free to toss letter and photos into the recycle bin but at least I have thought enough of you to want to share my adventures with you.
I always look forward to the Christmas letters and photos. Most people who have touched my life are a distance away and I don't have contact with them over the year. BUT at some point of my life these folks were a part of my life and made enough of an impact on my life that I want to keep in touch with them, if only through a card at Christmas. There is nothing so disappointing to me as receiving a card that is just signed, "Louie and Rose" with no note or word of greeting. I guess I should be happy that they are at least acknowledging the fact that they remember me but I REALLY wish I had a tiny note to know how you are. I love the Christmas letters that give me a years worth of news. I AM interested in knowing what's going on in your life and hearing where you are and what you have been doing. Even when the news isn't good it is important to me that you share so I can keep you in my prayers.
Moving right along from decorating and Christmas card writing we now get into the wrapping stage of Christmas preparations. This is one chore that I really enjoy with the exception of taking ALL the stuff out and trying to decide if I have bought something for everyone. The worst part is the grand kids and figuring out whether I have bought an EQUAL amount of stuff for each child. Heaven forbid one kid gets 5 gifts and the other gets 4 !! Men never understand this . . . they always think I have bought too much stuff in the first place and now the fact that I am trying to equal out the gifts between kids totally blows their minds. Since I shop through out the year when Christmas arrives I have to gather the bags and boxes of things to weed out my purchases. This is when it gets tricky and tense. Because kids are so fickle the things that they LOVED back in July are no longer on their "must have" lists so now I get to decide if I am going to give them this gift anyway or perhaps give it to another child in the family or donate it to the church. Thankfully there are enough grand kids here to be able to move gifts around because if some one doesn't like it, there's usually another one who will. And so I have piles of gifts scattered through out the guest bedroom trying to decide who gets what before I even start wrapping. Woe to the guest who arrives here at this time of the year and plans on staying the night. They get to sleep surrounded by bags of unwrapped gifts. This was the case when an old friend of Dwaynes called last week and came for a visit. As with the Christmas cards I LOVE having people drop in and visit as long as they don't mind the pre Christmas mess.
By Christmas day all this will be behind us and the preparation and planning will be a thing of the past for another year. It's always such a let down because as much as we complain about the month before Christmas that is really better than the actual day. All this "work" is what its all about, getting ready for a very special day that comes and goes way too fast.
With that thought in mind I best get away from this computer and get to work as I still haven't wrapped a single gift and time is passing.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU OUT THERE ! Stay calm, enjoy the frantic week yet to come and have a couple of drinks with me. Got to love that egg nog !!
