it's getting closer

I am not as together as you may think I am. Of course what do I know, maybe you think I'm a total nutcase. It's hard to say. Apparently, though, to some I give off an air of being a together person. In fact the last person who commented on this supposed togetherness almost got a very loud HA! in their face. Somehow I managed to refrain. I mean I try to be as organized as I can, but it's never 100%. To be honest it's very rarely in the ball park. Just ask Lynn who's patiently been waiting for the potato stuffing recipe that I promised her so long ago I only barely remember talking about it. Or you can ask me why, for the life of me, I can't remember to send Abby's library book back to school on a consistent basis. And somehow, tonight, dinner didn't get on the table until damn near 6:30, but nothing else really got done either. And last night, I panicked about Christmas just a whole lot a little bit.

You see I thought I was so far ahead of the game. I started shopping in the summer. Picking things up and tucking them away in my tickle trunk. All of the sudden now it seems like Christmas will be here in 5 minutes and that's when I start to sweat. Christmas is a lot of work on top the whole lot of work I already do around here. Not that I begrudge a minute of it. I truly do love it. I have some great, amazing gifts to give my loved ones and I cannot wait to hand them over. Without a doubt that's the best part for me. I'm just trying to get there with as much ease as possible.

I have spent a lot of time today thinking about how to get back that good feeling I was having and I think it all comes down to the list. I need a list. A list of what's left to buy, what baking I need to do and what I need to buy to complete that. Then a schedule of when I'm going to get all of this done, the baking, the wrapping, the visiting, the sitting on my duff and watching Polar Express with Abby, you know all the important Christmas jobs. I think that will bring a lot of the joy back. Also I need to start saying no to more things. December is already filling up and looking at the calender I realize some will have to go. I'm not thrilled with the idea. I would like to be able to enjoy all the parties and get togethers, but last year my plan was to scale Christmas way back and I think I've forgotten that a little bit. To that end, Mike and I made the decision to clear Christmas Eve. Our only plan is for an evening church service which is pretty close in line with the girls' bed time. I don't think there has ever been a Christmas Eve in my entire life that we weren't going some place, so this is kind if exciting, but a little bit sad at the same time.

What about all of you? Are you all set and ready to go? Part way done and feeling good? Or haven't even started yet and freaking right out?