The dreaded countdown to Christmas

Today is December 5^th.  Twenty days before Christmas, and I suddenly feel the pressure bearing down on me like an avalanche. Especially when I can feel the box of Christmas cards staring at me from across the room. I buy a fresh box of cards each year. It’s part of my holiday tradition to meticulously shop for Christmas cards that never get mailed. My pen is perched on top where I left it when I decided I would actually fill them out this year. I really do fill them out most years, but my epic fail comes when I get to the addressing and the mailing.  I have several years’ worth of poignantly written Christmas cards sitting in a box in my closet where they will likely remain for many years to come. That new box will be the exception…this year I’ll get them mailed. I still have a few weeks to go.

And what a crazy few weeks they will be.

I haven’t finished my shopping. And the bunch of bananas I bought to make banana bread may have gone off.  I haven’t made a single batch of cookies yet.

I don’t even have a tree.

That’s right. I don’t have a Christmas tree and it’s going to be December 6^th any minute now.  My neighbors all have trees.  Their houses are decorated with lighted wreaths and bows. Even their dogs are wearing festive bandanas and jingle bells. 

My dogs are wearing shredded tissue paper found inside a shoe box. They ripped it themselves.

So this is my plan for tomorrow…

Get a tree. Hang some lights. Bake cookies and bread. Groom the dogs and add jingle bells. Fill out Christmas cards (including addresses and stamps). Oh, and go to a Christmas party in the old neighborhood. 

Ok…maybe I’ll just get a tree.

Until the next time…I’ll be decking a few halls.