I cannot believe it's December!
I say the same thing every month and even though I realized long ago that time flies way too quickly, I still have the same reaction. Every. Single. Month.
So, it's December. I spent the majority of November griping about the huge (and premature) influx of Christmas related commercialism being force-fed to us by profit minded retailers. I complained that I felt rushed even though I shouldn't and wouldn't you know, now that I've turned the page on my calender, I am suddenly hit with that familiar pre-holiday feeling: panic.
Why? I don't know. We don't exactly go all out for Christmas. The harmonious holiday picture Norman Rockwell created is unattainable, in my mind. It's kind of hard to have a big holiday bash when you're a small family of three and the rest of your family is hundreds and hundreds of miles away.
I like the idea of scaling back. Especially since we already have so much. Caroline has toys in her room that she never touches. Like most kids, she's really much happier playing with big moving boxes and sheets of .29 felt we bought at the craft store. She has plenty of electronic stuff that keeps her entertained (and Legos), but for the most part, she has much more fun with everyday items.
I like that.
And yet, I still buy her toys.
Toys I know she won't use. Toys that will cause me to fuss when they're splayed all over the floor and not in their designated home, waiting to impale my bare feet and thereby invoking my uncanny knack to pull out a curse word or two when my feet have come in contact with sharp objects....or any objects, for that matter....but that's an entirely different story.
We keep it simple.
Caroline is still mightily spoiled, but our overall expectations are simple.
There will not be a luxury car in the driveway, with a big red bow affixed to its roof, to surprise my unsuspecting spouse with. Sorry, Craig.
Stricken with this sudden onset of holiday panic, I ventured out yesterday to pick up a few items. Mostly, I was out for a birthday present for my mom and for some ribbon to decorate the garland on our stair case with. As it so happens, while browsing, I encountered a wii game, on sale, that Caroline has requested on her lengthy and quite specific Christmas list.
I bought it; it was relieving to know that I've started the process.
However, I feel that a plan of some sort needs to be formulated.
I'll get to that...
First, I need to decorate our tree. It's up. Bare, but up. The ornaments are in a box next to the tree, waiting to be hung with care (wait...that's the stockings, right?) and the scattering of pine-like needles on my carpet are taunting me. I want to vacuum them up, but must decorate the tree first.
I love my tree. I love my ornaments.
But the perfectionist in me has trouble getting started. I like things to be evenly placed and I truly do stress out over such ridiculous details. I guarantee that all throughout the Christmas season, I'll fuss with the ornaments. Sick, I know.
After I get the tree up, I promise to post some pictures.
See, I've set a public goal; now I'll feel motivated to achieve said goal in a timely manner.
It's only Wednesday and so far this week has been a little topsy-turvy. I feel like I haven't had much opportunity to collect my thoughts, especially on a few issues that were surprisingly placed in our lap earlier this week. Instead, I've been pulling out dusty boxes from the garage and unearthing our Christmas decorations. I also bought myself a Little Green Machine carpet cleaner to clean the nasty high traffic areas of carpet on our stairs.
I quit with the spray carpet cleaner, because it just wasn't cutting it. It has gotten to the point where I could not turn on the lights in the stair way because seeing the dirty carpet made me very uncomfortable.
Isn't that sad?
I know it is and yet, in my mind, the only way to remedy this situation was not to CHILL OUT, like those who aren't so tightly wound, but to get rid of the spots. ASAP. The Little Green Machine worked quite well, I'm happy to report. I tackled one set of stairs and will work my magic on the second set tomorrow.
I hate that silly things like dirty carpet prevent me from living normally.... or you know, from turning on the lights, and such.
And so this concludes the first random post of December.
Time, Christmas, Dirty Carpets.
Somehow, in my skewed mind, those three topics fit perfectly together.
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