Not much to report

There is not much to report lately.  And that is really it. 

We had a great Thanksgiving.  Good food with the family.  My mom made a turkey and all of the trimmings.  They were great!  And there were so many.  After dinner and a walk around the neighborhood, the rest of the fam came over (we were only missing Emily...boooo), and we had some great pies.  I tried my hand at lemon meringue.  It was fine, but not like grandma's.  I will keep working on it and hope to find a recipe that I like. 

The rest of the weekend was nice.  We saw some family we don't get to see very often on Friday.  It is always nice to see them.  I also was able to pick out a couple more of my grandma's Christmas ornaments.  I will really enjoy seeing them on our tree this year.  Chuck put up the Christmas lights and I decorated the inside of the house.  And lots of relaxing.  Lots and lots of relaxing.  It was well needed.

I have to admit, I wasn't really looking forward to going back to work on Monday.  It is only a short busy stretch until Christmas, so I think I can handle it.  Which I guess means I should tell you what I have been up to regarding Christmas....

I am organized.  I mean really organized.  Sometimes I might go a little overboard.  My current lists look like this:  I have a list that has every person and what I would like to get them for Christmas (I know, not unusual).  It includes absolutely everybody I can think of:  bus drivers, aides, mailcarrier.  I try to be extremely thorough.  I have a list of things that I need to do everyday between now and Christmas.  Every appointment, lesson, shopping trip, program, or other event.  Listed, by the hour.  This may be overkill, but it keeps me sane.  I also have them highlighted in different colors based on the type of event it is.  Then I have the store lists.  All gifts broken down by stores.  And the order in which we have to go to them.  That way if I don't get things at one store, I have the possibility of going to another store without having to backtrack.  I hate to backtrack.  I have a list of things to order online, too.  And time set aside to do it.  Sadly, this is what I need to do in order to get through the season.

The thing is, Christmas sort of stresses me out.  Once the shopping is done, the baking is done, the cards are sent, and everything is wrapped, then I can enjoy.  So I need to get through to shopping and the cards and the baking and the wrapping.  This helps me do it.  The shopping is the toughest.  I mentally prepare myself for months (I'm not kidding), months to get ready.  That way I can get in, get what I need, and get out.  I spend a lot of time thinking about what to get people, so I am not one to look around.  This year I am more organized than ever.  And hopefully it will be the most stress free Christmas season ever.