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Christmas is a week from today? Hmm. Well, that can't be right. I haven't gotten everything ready yet!
I think back to last year. Last August (2007, that is), I had meals for one week determined and planned; I had already made the shopping list. By September I could finally start cooking some things and freezing them. We decorated the inside house and outside the house the weekend after Thanksgiving, even going so far as to pull out the extra mattress and lay out sheets. When the week before Christmas rolled around, I was doing "last-minute" things like making chutney, chopping vegetables to be roasted later in the week, grating cheese to throw in the biscuit recipe on Christmas Eve, baking bread for fresh bread crumbs. I was so proud of how prepared I was! Not that Christmas dinner wasn't still an hour later than promised. And the birthday cake turned out to be exactly not what the birthday girl asked for. And we ate leftovers for about 3 months. (Turns out cooking for eight for a week does not mean cooking three meals a day with 8-10 full portions.) But I felt good going into it!
This year, it's December 18, and I think I have main dishes in mind for Christmas Eve and day. Although I keep thinking that maybe what I have planned isn't Christmas-worthy. You know, good enough to be served proudly to Jesus were he to show up for his birthday party. In fact, the only meal I've 100% planned is the deep dish pizza we'll order the night after Christmas from the local pizza place. (It's so beloved, in fact, that they sell it frozen in dry-ice lined packages for people to ship to relatives they really really like.)
How about I think of what I have accomplished already? Maybe that will take the edge off. The sleeping arrangements have been thought out, which involves Bill and I in the tent in the backyard. (Yes, I know that it's cold to sleep outside, but our tent is pretty nifty, we have good sleeping bags, and the dog heats up really nicely when you snuggle up to her, like a very large, furry hot water bottle with pokey parts -- gotta love those long long legs.) The tree is up and is fittingly decked, as are the other rooms in the house. We have done almost all the shopping, although no wrapping, for stockings. Maybe one more gift needs to be procured, so that's pretty good. I did ask for time off from work, and there's a super pumpkin pie recipe I want to try (instead of traditional pastry, it's baked in phyllo dough all crimped up and drizzled with honey).
So I guess I'm in pretty good shape. The meals I have "planned" are pretty low-key, so they'll be easy enough to throw together and Jesus won't have to wait long if he decides to crash. And worst-case scenario, we'll have a family shopping trip where everyone takes a seventh of the list (which I have yet to make) and fills their own basket with lasagna ingredients and canned tuna. Or we have lots of take-out menus on the refrigerator standing by. And I think I can clean the shower and de-cobweb the corners in a week. One week! Oh boy!
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