Paperwhites amongst the Chaos

I am a little concerned about the speed at which Christmas is approaching this year. Today is Dec. 3...just 22 days before Christmas. I have done very little to prepare.

What scares me is that I do not anticipate being able to throughly emerse myself in the joyous season until somewhere around Dec 15, when finals are complete and I close the chapter on another quarter of school.

Is 10 days adequate time to get my Christmas ducks in a row?

I am hosting Christmas Eve this year. It looks like I need 4 more chairs, 2 more plates and an entire set of glassware. I need a tablecloth as well.

Mum in law will arrive next week so I must get the guest room sorted (I have Sunday to prepare for her arrival- as Saturday I have school and my workload has suddenly increased again)

I need to shop for Simon and Jake, the mum in law and my step dad. I need to finish making gifts for my brother's family and for my mom. I need to decorate and bake and get the Christmas cards signed and in the mail.

On a bright note, my paperwhites have taken off. They required very little prodding. I simply pulled last years potted pot from the garage and watered it. Wouldn't it be wonderful if all holiday preparations were so effortless? Amongst all the chaos, my paperwhites are a bright spot. A reminder that I need to just keep it simple.

I have decided to employ three rules to keep simplicity in mind...(after finals, of course)

1) If it isn't fun, don't do it

2) Make no excuses for not doing something that isn't fun.

3) when stressed, buy more flowers....hmm, an amaryllis would be nice!

Paperwhite photo is courtesy of http://www.susanabbott.com/dreamtables.html

Christmas Questionaire

Received this questionaire today...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? No preference
2. Real tree or Artificial? I prefer real, but have resigned myself to artificial
3. When do you put up the tree? Mid December
4. When do you take the tree down? New Years Day
5. Do you like eggnog? S’alright - Hot Buttered Rum is my preference.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? A dollhouse that my dad built for Barbie dolls. An easy bake oven (not sure if that was Christmas)
7. Hardest person to buy for? Stepdad, Brian
8. Easiest person to buy for? Mom
9. Do you have a nativity scene? no - I have a Christmas village - does that count?
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Ugly sweater, but a nice thought
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story – we also watch Love Actually every Xmas- not sure if that is a Christmas movie but it is set over a Christmas holiday!
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Extremely early - I try to be done before Thanksgiving- especially if we are going to be travelling
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No, only the gift wrap or bag
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Mince Pies with Brandy butter, fudge, sherry trifle, Hot Almond Butter Rum – I’ve a bit of a sweet tooth
16. Lights on the tree? Of Course
17. Favorite Christmas song? Let it Snow
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? This year- home. But usually we go to England. Last year we went to England and the Canary Islands. I think a mixture of both is good
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? If I sing the intro to Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, I can
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star, but used to have an angel
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Both.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Commercialism, people thinking they have to spend money they don't have, and the Seattle weather – only rain, no snow!
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I like silver and glass, but also like to mix it up each year. When Jake was little I would do themes…usually with cookie cut outs…dinosaurs one year, planes, trains, boats and cars another. Now we just do lots of picture ornaments of Jake…it seemed like a good idea when I started it)
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Prime Rib – this year we are going out though
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A Nintendo WII Fit...and maybe an amaryllis
26. Who is most likely to add a similar questionnaire to their blog? Mom
27. Who is least likely to? Charlie Vander Houwen
28. Favorite thing about Christmas? Baking, seeing Family and friends, giving (especially shopping for the foster kids), “fairy lights”, music, and snow, if we get some.

Getting rid of stuff

Started many things today, finished just one.

I finished cleaning and organizing the utility room today. I actually started this room two weeks ago, doing just a little bit each day.

Now the only problem is that the mess that once was the utility room is now the bigger mess in the garage. Clearly we have too much stuff. A yard sale would be great, but the time of year is all wrong, and frankly, I have no time to organize one. Also, Simon is against it. He did not enjoy our previous yard sales at all! He swore "Never Again!" and I think he really meant it. Simon wants me to just donate it all and write it off on our taxes.

I do not know why it bothers me to just give this stuff away like that, but it does. Donating is easy and I know that I will feel really "free"when the stuff I don't need is gone. So why do I have an issue with this??? Well, maybe it is because donating stuff feels a bit like just throwing perfectly good stuff out. It feels wasteful, even though it is less so than having lots of junk around that you never use. It might also be that cash is tangible....I can sell my stuff and then turn around and buy more stuff (like furniture and new windows)....a tax deduction is a little less apparent than cold hard cash- same wealth building potential- just not so visible.

Well, let me see if I can overcome this. Nortwest Center is going to have a truck in my area on Thursday. Perhaps I will throw some of my more valuable junk their way and see if I don't regret it.