December 9, 2007
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….”tis the season to be busy, fa la la la la….
Wait a minute, that’s not how the song goes!
But that’s how it seems to me. So why, oh why, don’t I do a better job of planning ahead and getting things done in advance and being organized? NEXT YEAR will be different! I’ll mark my new calendar now, and this is how my schedule will look:
The day after Christmas, I’ll head out to the stores and buy gift wrap, cards, and decorations at half-price to use next year. And while I’m out there, I’ll find some great bargain purchases to tuck away to give as gifts 364 days from now.
From January 1 until Labor Day, I’ll carefully and lovingly make precious and adorable hand-crafted gifts for each and everyone on my Christmas list.
In September, I’ll finish up the gift list by shopping for such things as books and other difficult-to-make items.
October will find me in a fluff of ribbon and paper, devoting my days to creating exquisite, one-of-a-kind packages and wrappings, all tied up and hidden in out-of-the-way places, long before Halloween.
Our Christmas cards, including personal, hand-written letters to each recipient, will be in envelopes, stamped, addressed and ready to mail by Veteran’s Day.
From then until mid-November, the days will be a blur of extravagant holiday baking. All manner of breads, cookies and other delectables will be baked, wrapped and in the freezer by the 15th.
(Time out! I’ll take a brief pause from this Christmas frenzy and use a few days to get ready for the really important holiday of Thanksgiving, but I’ll quickly get back into Christmas mode!)
The entire house and yard will be lavishly decorated by the first of December. There will be themed trees in every major room of the house. Outdoors, lights will illumine windows, roofline and trees, and freshly-twined garland will rope around the front door, complimenting the handmade wreath. Candles will glow in each window, welcoming guests to our holiday-happy home.
And then….ah, then, I will simply sit down, look at everything and enjoy! But I won’t sit for long. I’ll do some fun things! During the normally busy, hectic month of December, when I’m usually racing around like that proverbial headless chicken, squeezing in the above-listed eleven months’ worth of preparations, I can, instead, go to church bazaars, visit my shut-in friends with plates of cookies, organize an evening of leisurely caroling, take in a Christmas movie on the first weekend it comes out, stick unfailingly to my diet and exercise regimen, attend the Christmas cantatas at all the local churches, go to bed on time each night, and give not one single thought to a list of any kind.
That’s my plan for next year.
Wake up, Janet! That stuff is all just a dream. It will never happen, so I’ll just admit it now. It’s not me, and that’s not my life. I love the idea of being organized, but I’m not. Too many things happen to prevent it….such as living. I won’t be creating gifts from January till September, because I’ll be working on Valentine’s Day, the grandchildren’s birthdays, hay season, Mother’s Day, tax season, the Fourth of July, taking kids to the creek, planting the garden, and other things too numerous to mention…things that deserve the time it takes to do them.
So when December, 2008, rolls around, I’m sure it will be about like this one, with me, once again, in my headless chicken routine, running around like crazy, making lists and losing them, burning a batch of cookies because I leave the kitchen to wrap a package, spending two hours trying to find the dog-gone burned-out bulb that is keeping my lone strand of lights from twinkling around the front door, sitting up late knitting a “gotta-have” gift, wracking my brain to think of the perfect present for a son-in-law or nephew, rapidly dashing off a generic holiday letter to copy and stuff into envelopes and hope the addresses haven’t changed since last year, looking in the attic for left-over gift wrap and ribbon…and hopefully, smiling through it all.
Now, if any of you live by the calendar in my above-described dream, please don’t tell me…I just don’t have time to believe you!
Happy Christmas-ing!
Currently listening to: It Took a Miracle (the cantata our community choir performed this afternoon–simply wonderful!!!)
Comments (6)
Oh, that was great, Janet! That was a reminder that our lives are full of so many things, important, sometimes un-planned, God ordained things that make for real life. The idyllic, organized, perfect pre-Christmas plan doesn’t even sound like fun!
I’m tired after reading this! I haven’t baked one thing…might manage some Pillsbury Slice-n-Bake sugar cookies with sprinkles for our little neighbor Sophie. I know your home looks beautiful, and that the Christmas celebration you stage-manage for your family will be unforgettable and sweet. God bless you, my friend. Light a scented candle and enjoy your Christmas tree lights!
yes, live every day! and live it big! i’m making some new year’s resolutions, but they’re really good ones, about finding time to do what is really important and trusting God to help with the rest of it. A friend and I took the time Saturday to go visit two very old women from church who are now in nursing homes–we took them some Christmas flowers. The weather was horrible, but I knew if I had planned to spend the day Christmas shopping, I wouldn’t let it stop me.
You had me worried. I thought, “This is the most organized person I’ve ever met (through Xanga). Then, relief, you told the truth!
ryc: I take the pictures of the birds through my kitchen window. The feeders are between two and three feet from the window. I usually take them when I’m in the kitchen to make breakfast or lunch. And I do not open the window this time of year.
Hello…..just passing through via Georgene’s site….I saw you are from the Ozarks. Me too! Just wanted to add my blessings for a wonderful, peaceful Christmas celebration for you and your family. Q.’
Wow, that plan was quite the plan. I like the other one, the living-everyday-as-it-comes plan much better. Besides, tomorrow isn’t in the bag until it’s today already.
loved reading your post
happy holidays, as busy as they are!