Sunday, December 23, 2007

Holiday Craziness

A crazy thing happened last Sunday when I stopped to think about what I would write about the Beer Tree Party--I realized I had one day and one week to finish my shopping, clean house, bake cookies, and prepare for our Christmas Eve Party. Twenty-six people are coming to our house tomorrow for dinner, dessert, and the family gift exchange and I didn't have anything done. So, needless to say, I spent the past week fighting the other snotty-nosed shoppers, wrestling with sticky sugar cookie dough, and trying to make sense of the piles of junk mail that managed to multiply on every table around here. I went full-throttle until I just bombed yesterday. I refused to do anything except stare at the Christmas tree for most of the day. It wasn't happy times, I tell ya.

We're pretty much set otherwise. I currently have a pound cake in the oven and a few finishing touches to work on tomorrow before everyone comes over. Overall I'm satisfied with the gifts I picked out, and I keep telling myself that it's only family coming over. They aren't going to nit-pick at that thin layer of dust on the bookshelves in the bedroom, and they aren't going to razz me about the pile of paperwork hanging around on the computer desk. For the most part I can just close the doors and no one will notice, and more importantly, so what if they do? It's just family. Get a hold of yourself, Katie.

I've had to remind myself over and over that this holiday isn't about having the prettiest tree or precisely wrapped gifts. It isn't about perfectly frosted cookies or whether or not the wood floors shine.

It's so easy to forget that sometimes.

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