The weekend has been a good one (starting on Friday). I got a lot of things checked off the ol' list.
Because of this remodeling project, which has been put on hold, since neither of us (P or I) has the time or ambition to finish it right now (just the mouldings need to be finished, but it's time consuming), we decided it would be a Very Modest Christmas at our house. Modest in the decorating department, that is. It's hard to muster a lot of enthusiasm for decorating when one's house is in the condition ours is. Oh, yes....our floors are absolutely beautiful. The fireplace mantle is re-done and finished, the walls are painted, the kitchen is done (mostly). But all of our furniture is still crammed into other rooms, we have no window treatments, no trim along the edges of anything, no closet doors. It's tidy, but obviously unfinished, and there's no sense bringing anything back to these rooms until the moulding is done. So, there wouldn't be a lot of point in pulling out all the Christmas decorations.
But we did get a tree on Saturday. It's only a 7 footer, but it goes with our Modest theme. We pulled out enough tree decorations and lights to do it up right, and now it sits in our living room, nearly by itself (except for our couch), and it's really pretty. We all three huddled together on the couch in the dark last night for a long time with just the lights from the tree illuminating the place. After a while, we flipped the switch to the gas fireplace, and the glow of the fire danced and cast reflections on the new floor, which was perfect and I loved it.
Earlier in the day, we dressed B up in her new Christmas dress, stockings, and shoes, and took her to get her picture taken with Santa. This year, she promised, she would not cry. She was, in fact, so excited to be seeing Santa that she bounced all over the place for hours before we left. Three, going on four, is a wonderful age for Christmas. I mean, B really and truly believes in Santa. We, of course, encourage this, because sometimes threatening to call Santa on the cell phone is the only leaverage I have these days, and it works, so I'm using it. Not only that, but we love how her eyes light up when she thinks of Santa, and how his elves are building her toys right now, and how those reindeer are gonna be hungry when they get to our house, so we'll need to make some reindeer food and leave it for them. This kid is totally into it this year, and it's precious.
So she got her picture taken, and she did very well, smiled and everything, and then recited her well-rehearsed list of the things she wants Santa to bring her. A Leapster (Leapfrog computer), a My Little Pony, and a Big Red Elmo. Okay, I coached her. I already got her all those things, but won't it be neat when she opens them and sees how Santa came through? Hey, there will many years ahead when she can be jaded and skeptical and unbelieving, but for now, she believes, and we are enjoying it.
Friday I finished all the Christmas shopping for the kids, except for the treats that will fill their stockings. We set a budget this year - haven't really ever done that before. Usually, I just buy what we want to buy, get what I think we need, do Christmas right by my books, and see how it shakes out in the end. Not this year. I wanted to see what Christmas really costs us. And I wanted to prove to P we could do it for a certain amount (an amount that seems fair considering our situation). So I have tracked every thing, from the cards we made, to the postage that went on them, to the stockings and dress and shoes, the gifts, the tree, anything and everything I have spent money on related to Christmas. The good news is that our eyes have been opened a little. The bad news is that we're gonna bust our budget. But at least we know we're gonna do it. And that's the point. Well, I guess the point should have been to stay within the budget, but, you know. Not gonna happen. But we won't bust it by too much. Maybe $100. That's not too bad.
Today we're supposed to travel yonder to see K perform in her church's annual children's Christmas play. I think P will be going without B or I this year, as B has developed a nasty little cold and was up all night coughing. Even after two rounds of nighttime medicine, she still coughed all night, and I know she will not be well-rested today. So I'm keeping her indoors, snuggled up, and medicated.
And, of course, since she has been coughing in my face for three days now, I am in the process of coming down with it. Which is perfect, you know, since it seems like I just got over being sick. Can't feel well for too long.
Today is laundry and B's bedroom clean-up day. Her bathroom too (maybe). I promised her some chocolate chip cookies, so we'll make a little batch of those too. Other than that, resting and relaxing are in order. By the light of the Christmas tree.
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