More Holiday Cheer

As I sit here tonight at 11:30 p.m., I can't help but feel a slight sense of satisfaction. I did not do ANY school work today. No sir. No algebra, no paper writing, and no online work. I got up at the leisurely time of 9:30 this morning. I made coffee. I checked emails. I surfed the internet for a few minutes. The DQ spent the night with one of her friends, as she frequently does on Friday nights.

I really enjoy these breaks. It's really a win-win situation for both of us. She gets to socialize with her friends, and her being gone is an opportunity for me to have a little break. Back in the day, her dad and I lived in the same state. That was nice because he could get her on the weekends and I didn't have to feel guilty about the time she was spending away from me.

Then he moved out of state, and eventually I moved to another state also. This meant that the days of me getting a guilt free break were over. Now that she is getting a little older, she really enjoys spending time with her friends. Since I am having fifteen people at my house for Thanksgiving, I decided to indulge in some much needed house cleaning. I shamefully admit that it has been a really long time since I REALLY cleaned the house. Clutter was EVERYWHERE. Dirt was everywhere. Dust was beginning to take over every corner of the house.

Don't get me wrong. Housework is done around here......by a 15 year old and a 9 year old. While I do appreciate all their efforts and help, nobody cleans like Mom cleans. I pulled out all the couch cushions. You would be surprised at the collection of extremely revolting things that get in a couch. I took down the shower curtain. I put all the clutter in a large pile in the living room floor. Once I got into it, I decided that since I am embarking on the busiest time of the year at work, and attempting to feed my entire family on Thanksgiving without killing them, that now is the time to drag out all the Christmas decorations. I added a few new pieces to my collection this year, and I was REALLY excited to get everything out.

Yes I do realize that it is the week before Thanksgiving. Yes, I do realize that technically it is too early to decorate for Christmas. Ask me if I care.

1. I WILL NOT have the time to do it next weekend. (As I will still be recovering from having a house full on Thursday)

2. No one ever comes to my house anyway to point out that it is too early.

3. Because of number 2 I will be the only one who looks at the stuff anyway.

4. I ENJOY my Christmas decorations therefore I should enjoy having them out a little early.

5. I will probably put up a tree next week. If I do, it will not be as overwhelming because the rest of the decoration will be finished.

6. I just really wanted to do it today.

7. After reviewing all the reasons, I realized that since I did get them out and up early, at least I can force my family to ooohhhh and aaaahhh over them.

So I accomplished giving my living room a really thorough cleaning, put out all my decorations (with the help of my lovely sister, Marlette). She really gave me some great ideas, and I am really happy about the way everything looks. I also got several loads of laundry done including washing some of our fall/winter blankets.

My kitchen is ALMOST as clean as I like it to be, minus the floor needing to be mopped. The computer desk actually sort of resembles a desk again. For a while there it was starting to look like a paper recycling location. This is due to me doing my algebra on scrap paper and leaving the ten pages on the desk every time I attempted to due homework or take a quiz.

I am feeling guilty about one thing. I took a mental survey of all the gifts I bought for The DQ. While she has a decent number of presents, I didn't get her anything really great yet. I don't know how other families operate, but I like to get the girls at least one special or large gift that they really want. She wanted an Ipod Nano. She already has the Ipod Shuffle, but would like an upgrade. I bought her one, but because of my computer configuration, the new Ipod Nano is not compatible with my computer. So I took it back. She also wants a digital camera. I am not sure at this point if there will be enough money in December for me to get her one. I actually told another relative they could get her one. This solves a couple of problems. The first one is that in the event that I can't get her one, that she will still get one. The second problem this solves is that she has numerous relatives on her dad's side of the family.

If they all pitch in and get her the camera, I don't have to worry about how unfair it is to Sissy for The DQ to get a large box of ten or so presents from them, leaving Sissy out in the cold. I know this is not done intentionally, it just makes me feel better about things being fair in this house. I did have to downgrade Christmas this year because of the bad year my company had. I think I mentioned in a previous blog no bonuses this year. FYI-family members. If you click on the word blog, you can go to a prior blog in which I posted pics of stuff she wants for Christmas. I HAVE NOT purchased any of the items shown.

As I was puttering around the house today, I took a moment to appreciate doing normal family things. It feels good to just clean my house while Sissy is in her room talking up a storm on her phone. This is why I don't regret anything in my life, even the bad. In order for me to truly appreciate the simple things, the good things, all that crap I went through had to happen. Sometimes God's plan hurts, but it all works according to His purpose.

Overlook my moments of mushiness, I find they happen with alarming frequency as I get older. A couple of weeks ago I cried before my sister's baby shower because I thought it was sweet the way we all pulled together to make it happen. Go figure.......