Friday, 12/16

With one week and one day left to go before Christmas Eve, I have no idea if I’ll even be getting my tree up.

Yikes!

And it’s not just the tree I’m worried about; I only have a few gifts purchased (much less wrapped), I have not one cookie baked, and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is still sitting in my living room unwatched. So if nothing else, I have all that going for me!

It seems like I complain about something like this every year, but this holiday season seems to be worse than usual, even worse than that time a couple of years ago when I was on call for jury duty the entire month. Some of that is the fault of the fact that I’m doing the jobs of several people at work, but I have no idea what’s causing the rest of it. In fact, I looked at the calendar last night, and asked Loraine where the first half of December went.

I mean, wasn’t it just my birthday yesterday??

I’m confident the tree will be up before Christmas; after all, it’s just a little L.E.D. thingee that you pull out of the box and plug in. But I still have to get down to the storage area in the basement of our apartment and find it, and that could take some time. Of course, my cross-country skis are down there, as well, and I need to get THOSE out soon, too, so maybe I can get both things taken care of at once.

I’m also confident the cookies will be done soon. After all, it’s not like I have a choice n the matter, right? Time is running out, so I have two evenings set aside for that, as well as the annual baking fest with any nieces who might be free at my parents Sunday afternoon. So while those will finally get done, they’ll also take away a big chunk of free time that could be used to, I dunno, try and find my L.E.D. Christmas tree.

I’m hoping that one of these years, I’ll realize the holiday season is sneaking up on me rapidly, and use that knowledge to get everything that needs to get done done ahead of time, so I can just sit around and enjoy the season. Of course, I’m also hoping that I get world peace and my own spaceship for Christmas every year, and that hasn’t happened yet.

But a boy can always dream, can’t he?

Anyway, I’m sure things will get done before Christmas. And if nothing else, a couple of years ago when I didn’t know if I’d have time to get my tree out, my dear then 10-year old niece Mallory drew me a picture of a Christmas tree, just to make sure I’d have one. So if I don’t get my L.E.D. tree out, I’ll at least have that ready to go.

All I have to do is remember where I put it.

On that note, have yourself a great pre-Christmas weekend. I hope you get everything done that you need now, so you, at least, can enjoy a few days of the holiday season!

(jim@wmqt.com)