Christmas Prep Updates

Ah, memes, how I love you. Especially on Fridays when I am too tired to think of my own freakin' topic and is it December yet? I was afraid not.

With, um, hello, 48 days to Christmas, the emails in the family are starting to fly. "I thought the limit was $50." "I thought it was $150 per family and $25 per kid." (Which is so so so much more than I make in a month right now if you extend it to the whole family I'm hoping for the combo $50 per family and $25 per kid.) "Are we giving to charity?" (I hope so.)

And in the middle of it, Halloween, Thanksgiving tussles, and the whirl of finishing one job and desperate attempts to start the next.

So, this week, thanks to the 100 Days countdown, I did achieve some results. We cleared Halloween and in the post-holiday Target sale I got a clear storage bin with an orange lid for the attic so next year, I will be able to find all the fabric-based decorations that I couldn't find this year. (And, note to self, no one missed but me. Just sayin'.) We pulled down Halloween bit by bit, to the boys' dismay. and got that away for a breather before my (small and staying that way) turkey collection makes its appearance. The Phillies paraphenalia isn't gone yet but I'm in no rush. Still giddy over that, too.

Other "posts into action" this week:

I saw the cranberry sauce sale and hopped on it. It was 5 for $2 (!!!) and so two for me, three to give away, and that's done. I grew up loving the jelly one that came out in the shape of the can (didn't everyone?) but have been converted to the whole-berry stuff. But I split the three leaning to the jelly, since if a family has any kids, that's what they'll want. I'll be picking up more things as time goes on but that was a start.

I have started on my ultimate grocery list for Thanksgiving, and had my practice one going strong. I even found cheap brussels sprouts (though to be honest, I buy them so infrequently, I don't know what a good price is, but this one seemed totally reasonable) at the Farmers' Market where I work and so I am ready to practice on them. I know I ate them when I was little but just got out of the habit. I'll be interested to see what happens next.

We did remember to turn back our clocks. And I totally voted. We felt very lucky; it was so easy. We read that in the last presidential election, 90% of votes in our town were cast before 6pm, so we took the chance that the trend would hold. And hold it did. We picked up my husband from work, drove straight to the polls, walked right in, got in "the blue tents" (as my son called the voting booths) right away, said a little prayer, and made history.

Looking for help getting coordinated for the holidays? Try here.