Santa'sComing...

Are you ready? I'm not. I have shopping to do, baking to do, mailing to do, organizing to do, cleaning to do... but hey, at least the tree is up. The stockings are hung. We have a fireplace but I don't dare actually light a fire in it. I think I'll fill it with poinsettias instead. That will look festive. There's no Christmas music this year because we haven't hooked up our home theater system. That's how we play CDs. I do have an iPod with Christmas music on it. Maybe we'll use that.

We had our monthly family dinner last night. (No, that doesn't mean that my family only eats dinner once a month. It means the whole family comes for dinner.) I'm still adjusting to a much smaller house with a much smaller kitchen. So, just as we have downsized our living space, I've downsized the dinners. Afterwards, everyone mentioned a family Christmas tradition they remember or like. Imagine my surprise when one of my children said we didn't have any because we had stopped doing them all. Grrrrrrrrrrr!

Well... if that's the case, why have I gotten up every Christmas before the crack of dawn to mix cinnamon roll dough? and why have I bought goofy slippers every year for I don't know how many years? and why have I made monster shopping lists and brought home monster grocery bags for "Cookie Day" each year since my children have existed? and delivering treats to friends and neighbors? and what about going to Salt Lake to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir? and the Festival of Trees? and the Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey? and the nativity sets? and opening one gift on Christmas eve and the rest on Christmas morning? and the Christmas Jar tradition we started just a few years ago ??? and??? and ??? May I just say again, "GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!"

But, don't despair. I am holding on by my fingernails to my Christmas Spirit. That keeps my hands too busy to wring one of my children's necks!