only 18 days . . .

I know the holidays are behind us, but I finally have time to catch-up.  This was my article for the Leaf Chronicle on Dec 11th  As it is Dec 30th, I will be posting the remainder of the December articles in “rapid fire successions.”  I think I feel a New Year’s resolutions forming.

The countdown is on the chalkboard. The other day it occurred to me that we’re less than twenty days out from Christmas! YIKES! So, I wrote this on my chalkboard, “Only 18 days left to decorate, shop, bake, clean and . . .”

Just for the record, it still reads “18” days. (You do the math.) Raise your hand if you’re in denial, as well. If I don’t change it, maybe the days will magically remain. What happened to “the gift of time” I waxed on about two weeks ago? Where’d it go?

I’ll tell you where—to work. I have been so busy at the shop and with clients that I haven’t had time to do any of the necessary preparations for our household. Throw-in a backed-up sewer line, a few volunteer commitments, and a few loads of laundry and you have a really full schedule.

I’m sure each and every one of you can relate to this dilemma. Remember, misery loves company.

But wait, is that a fully decorated Christmas tree I see through your picture window? And those lights on your house, I know they haven’t been there all year. And, thank you, thank you for the lovely Christmas Greeting with the well-coordinated-in-red-attire photo of your family. When did you find the time to get all of that done? I mean, the family photo alone would be an impossible feat of scheduling for our crew.

Yet, I promised myself I wouldn’t stress out this year.

Then, the phone call that alerts me my daughter’s MRI for her wrist has to be rescheduled due to a problem with the machine. Dad was going to take her on Friday; now Mom has to take her—to Nashville—on Wednesday (a day previously set aside for some shopping and decorating). That means another week of no gymnastics—she is not going to like that. (I begged and pleaded, but I couldn’t get the MRI scheduling tech to call my daughter for me.) Another day—lost—and it hasn’t even happened yet! I’m mourning the loss of a future day.

Still not stressing.

It will all be fine. Once I submit this article, then run home to take and send the lovely photo accompanying it, I’ll then have a few hours before I return to downtown to join dear friends for a toast to the season. I can use that time to add lights to the tree we must get decorated this weekend. That’s how it will happen—in stages.

As you are running around trying to accomplish it all—think about the decorating you can do in stages. For instance, all of my trees are up. Tonight I’ll decorate the aluminum tinsel tree and return the boxes to storage. Tomorrow, I’ll aim for decorations on a different tree and in the kitchen.

You’ve got the general idea. I do make use of the teenagers in the house. They bring down and return the storage boxes as directed. I’m responsible for most of the decorating, but the youngest is anxious for it to happen, so she may start setting-up the nutcrackers or Santa Claus figures.

Her first chore however is to vacuum the floors so the fur balls will stop chasing me as I frenetically spin through the house, wondering what to do next. They just mock my futility and I will not stand for that—it stresses me out!

Thanks for your indulgence!