{ the busy season }

how is it the busy season already?


you know what i mean: ornaments and santa clauses in store windows. one of our neighbors already has a poinsettia wreath on their door. thanksgiving is less than three weeks away, and my plans for a leisurely gift-buying-or-making season are rapidly deteriorating. i mean, there's still hope, especially if i get started this weekend, but still....how is it already this time of year?


i'm mulling over last year's holiday season, trying to sift what i want to do again {meaning, things that were Christ-focused and that we both enjoyed} from everything else. i'm so thankful that we don't have to do a lot of extra purchasing again this year: tree, lights, ornaments--all the little christmasy things that you take for granted till you have your own home, and suddenly BAM! all you have in the way of decorations is one lonely pine-scented candle. {speaking of which, i do need another of those.} we both loved doing advent together. i'd be delighted if a trip to wight's every december for a new ornament becomes one of our traditions. and that christmas cookie exchanged i dreamed of hosting last year? maybe it will come to fruition in 2010. on my list of things not to do again: spend days being nauseated--and missing work--because of stress and anxiety. throw up on christmas eve. spend christmas morning alone in bed because i felt icky and i had begged mike to go celebrate with his family, before i eventually joined them.


i'm hoping for a mellow weekend; regular chores interspersed with happy little jaunts away from the routine. tonight mister and i are babysitting the six-month-old daughter of some friends. tomorrow night is a birthday party for one of mister's friends. sunday we're both volunteering at the blood drive mister coordinates at our church four times a year. perhaps hoping for mellow is a bit of a stretch, eh? ;-)