Holiday Tranquility

There is a lot going on in my life right now. Work is busy, social life is busy, I've over-extended myself on projects around the house, and it is the holiday season on top of that. I feel like the brain hamsters have been spinning their wheels especially fast lately.

Last night as I sat at Wine Night, I pulled some scrap paper (actually, a used envelope) out of my purse and started jotting down things I need to accomplish over the next few evenings, plus lists of things I need to tell certain people so I don't forget. Along with notes to finish paining my cabinets, mail some packages, and write my Christmas cards, I decided to put Meditate for 15 Minutes on the list each evening.

After I got home with my leftover wine, I buzzed around the house for about an hour and a half, straightening and painting and crossing things off the list. And then, just before heading upstairs to get ready for bed, I turned out all the lights except for the candles in the window and the Christmas trees. I sat on the floor, looking up at the lights and decorations of Sam the Balsam. I focused on some of the different ornaments, reflecting on where and when I acquired them. Boo came over for some lovings, rubbing his face on my hands and crawling into my lap for a few minutes. Finally, I sang a couple of very off-tune Christmas carols. It took 15 minutes before bed, and really did relax me.

There are 12 more days until Christmas. I think I will be adding this to my nightly schedule.

Holiday Productivity

ATDL wrap-up! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanza, and Happy New Year. (No mention of Festivus because while I like the idea, I am the only Gen X-er who hates Seinfeld.)

-call furnace guy
-make sure neighbors will watch the cats, and give them their Christmas presents
-order pictures for holiday cards
-finish writing up holiday letter
-print letter
-print address labels - opted not to and just use non-holiday return labels
-find address book
-finish the damn holiday cards, which will wind up being new year's cards, but whatever
-wrap Auntie L's holiday gift and get it ready to mail
-take everything to the PO (and thank goodness for the 24-hour APC at my PO)
-make another batch of chocolate-dipped spoons
-make another batch of banana bread
-finish putting together goodie bags for work and Miss J's family
-drop off goodie bag for Miss J's family - still need to do this, but promised her I'd wait until this week until some of the cookies and holiday food had been eaten!
-consolidate Christmas presents to wrap and make sure nothing is forgotten
-change sheets on bed
-wash/dry/put away sheets and towels
-wash/dry/put away load of random laundry floating around bedroom
-pack clothes for trip to parents'
-vacuum first floor
-vacuum stairs
-vacuum upstairs
-clean upstairs bathroom
-mix up sugar cookie dough - checked with Mom, and they had plenty of cookies in ME already, so decided to wait until the week after to make some to have when R comes to visit

-bake off sugar cookies
-wrap Christmas presents, then box up
-load car
-clean cat box
-take out garbage
-stop at liquor store for nips and Baileys
-pack up Wii and games to take to parents' house - forgot this, but it was ok as I was only there for a couple of days anyway

So for the most part I was successful. Didn't quite get all the cleaning done before I left that I was hoping to do, but at least the house was pretty well straightened up before I left. It's always nice to come home and have empty surfaces to set down all of the gear I always seem to return with. Tomorrow is back to work time, but hopefully it'll be an easy week.

Ambitious To-Do List - Holiday Version

So much to do, so little time to do it. Let's make a list instead of actually doing anything productive, shall we?

-call furnace guy
-make sure neighbors will watch the cats, and give them their Christmas presents
-order pictures for holiday cards
-finish writing up holiday letter
-print letter
-print address labels
-find address book
-finish the damn holiday cards, which will wind up being new year's cards, but whatever
-wrap Auntie L's holiday gift and get it ready to mail
-take everything to the PO (and thank goodness for the 24-hour APC at my PO)
-make another batch of chocolate-dipped spoons
-make another batch of banana bread
-finish putting together goodie bags for work and Miss J's family
-drop off goodie bag for Miss J's family
-consolidate Christmas presents to wrap and make sure nothing is forgotten
-change sheets on bed
-wash/dry/put away sheets and towels
-wash/dry/put away load of random laundry floating around bedroom
-pack clothes for trip to parents'
-vacuum first floor
-vacuum stairs
-vacuum upstairs
-clean upstairs bathroom
-mix up sugar cookie dough
EITHER:
-bake off sugar cookies
-wrap Christmas presents, then box up
OR:
-box up unwrapped presents, wrapping supplies, etc to finish on Friday morning
-take cookie dough to parents' house to bake off
THEN:
-load car
-clean cat box
-take out garbage

Edited to add to the list:
-stop at liquor store for nips and Baileys
-pack up Wii and games to take to parents' house