Nothing about this year has been typical amiright?! And in keeping with this ‘theme’, I decided to get things rolling early in the way of Christmas preparations. Basically from the moment the last Halloween decoration was packed up (November 1), we started hanging snowflakes, light strings and ‘swagging’ every surface and doorway with the broken pine boughs I pilfer from the park when I am out and about (don’t worry, I only take the ones that are already on the ground and yes, I am only in the park to scavenge for free evergreens). I finished putting up the exterior lights last weekend and so far one of two indoor trees is erected and awaiting the final touches of either white or silver decorations that have been elected for the ‘upstairs’ tree. The kids want a live tree downstairs so we can wait on that a few weeks more so we don’t have an actual giant mass of tinder standing within sparking distance of the fireplace in the family room after probably only a day indoors.
I have been working on the cards, the gifts and every time I go out, I haul back more food, drinks and goodies so I don’t get caught with nothing in the house if they lock us down again completely before December 25th. I am still trying to stick with my ‘homemade’ mis-guided-ness and have the sewing machine out with a complete mess of fabric, ribbon, thread, yarn and a box of felt pens..? I am hoping whatever project those items suggest will simply come together one evening in a Christmas miracle of craft-fairy surprise. Yah, don’t worry, I am not holding my breath on that or the conviction with which I decreed this demented proposal in the first place!
Lately though, I have been worrying I might poop out before the ‘party’ starts. I may have been too over-zealous about getting in the holiday spirit so soon because I am beginning to sag (much like my cedar branches). After ‘careful consideration’ (read; 3 glasses of wine) I have deduced that the typical lead up to Christmas is a specially formulated number of days designed to delight us with just enough hours to create that happy panic of gift-buying and production chaos to ignite our enjoyment of the season. Well who’da thunk it, by starting early I turned a sprint into a marathon. Thankfully though, it appears I am all good, by my calculations, I will be done my ‘To Do’ list about 2 weeks early mainly because I can omit a number of pesky activities like; staff dinners, cocktail parties, open houses, Santa visits, Christmas market, East Van Panto, the Bright Lights evenings at Van Dusen, Stanley Park Christmas Train, wandering through the Mall admiring the decorations, touring the holiday displays at the downtown hotels… it turns out, the happy consequence of this particular year avoiding people is… no distractions!
I know…yay ;(
Jingle bells everyone!