1. Advent candles. We actually found our wreath in a box in the garage, bought some candles, and lit the first one on the first Sunday of Advent. This is almost unheard of. Of course, on Monday we lit two candles, and on Tuesday we lit three, and tonight we lit all five, and yes, I know, the colors of the candles are all wrong (this is Ridgecrest, give me a break, I couldn't find any purple and pink candles) so we're not observing the tradition correctly, but the twins are enjoying it, so it's all good.
2. Advent calendars. I bought these AHEAD OF TIME! Completely unheard of. We were in a children's bookstore in LA in October and they had Advent calendars, so I bought two. And I was able to find them on December 1st, TRULY completely unheard of. The twins and I open the little windows every morning.
3. Christmas cards. Ours are ordered -- might even arrive this week. Then there's all the fun of writing and addressing them. But it really is fun for me. Incidentally, I haven't received a single Christmas card yet. My cousin Kathy always gets her cards out right after Thanksgiving, so now I'm wondering -- is there a problem? did someone die? or did we just get dropped from her list? This is actually stressing me out, so OK, one teeny tiny source of stress here.
4. Decorations. We're going to put up the tree and all that this weekend. I'm not worried about it.
5. Cookies. I'm planning to bake ONE BATCH, probably sugar cookies that the twins can help decorate. Maybe this weekend. Not worried.
6. Gifts. I've bought a few things for the twins and Rocket Boy. I have just a few more people to shop for, then I'll be done. No worries.
7. Parties. We've already gone to a few. We've decided to host the tortoise club party next week, so there will be some preparation work for that. Not worried. Probably should be worried, but not worried.
8. Hanukkah. We went to my niece's Hanukkah party in LA on Saturday night. There are two more nights of it left, so I'm continuing to read the Hanukkah book that we got out of the library to the twins each night. But heck, they still want to read Halloween with Max and Ruby every night too. We'll probably go on reading the Hanukkah book until it's due back at the library.
9. Charity. I need to sit down and make a list of who we're donating to and get those checks sent off. But that's enjoyable.
10. Holiday lights. Maybe this weekend we'll drive around with the twins and look at lights. Last year they only had a few words and described everything as "do-bitty" ("so pretty"). This year I know already that everything will be described as "Winnie-go-house."
11. Music. We sing a carol (laboriously played on the piano by me) every night after we light the Advent candles. Probably ought to spend some time practicing. Probably ain't gonna happen. It's OK, there are always holiday CDs, records, and tapes to listen to instead.
12. Christmas candy, specifically mint M&Ms and all the different varieties of peppermint bark. We are DONE with this and are not going to buy any more. See note about the new Weight Watchers above, and have another piece of fruit.
13. The actual holiday itself. Well, it's not for a few more weeks. Cross that bridge when we come to it and all that.
What can I say? Things are humming along very smoothly, even pleasantly. I might even decide to make a gingerbread house. OK, no, I won't, because then I would lose my mind and that would defeat the purpose -- I wonder, is it necessary to get all stressed out at Christmas? Is it part of the whole experience? Never fear, I'm sure it will happen, but right now things are OK. Let's leave it there.
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