no really, I mean it this time.

So.. I got busy in August. Um, and September. Hey, I have a new job, and I didn't know what to expect. Turns out, July through September is pretty much my busiest time of year. Oops! So ok, time to regroup.

The official plan of course is set out in 8 weeks, but really she breaks it into 3 sections: weeks 1-3 are "get organized," weeks 4-6 are "scratching things off our list," and weeks 7-8 are "winding down." And really I've been doing some "getting organized" all along, so hey, I'm not doing so bad! New plan:

Aug-Sept: "get organized"

Oct: "scratching things off our list"

Nov: "winding down"

Dec: "eating lots of pie"

Here's what I've done so far on the "getting organized" front:

• Make a list of people on your gift list – done, considering I did this last year and my family hasn't changed much, with the exception of a new niece just born in September! So see, I couldn't have really done this properly in August anyway. Hey I get to buy baby stuff this year, hooray!

• Set your holiday spending budget – again this hasn't really changed, which is sad because now I want to buy additional baby stuff. Hmm.

• Finalize your Thanksgiving plans – just did this last night with my mother in law! At least, I know what I'm doing that weekend, not sure about where we're eating that particular day. Probably not my house this year, though I may still make a nut loaf. Mmm, nut loaf.

• Plan your family traditions – Part of that busiest time of year for me was organizing a giant fundraiser for my workplace, where I happened to purchase a gift certificate for a Christmas tree farm. So guess which family tradition we're definitely doing this year, if nothing else? And hey, it's already paid for, and for a good cause. Paul, commence to sharpenin' that ax.

• Make Christmas travel plans and reservations – um, not going anywhere, except to the kitchen for more pie. Done.

• Make a Christmas card list – if you sent me one last year, you're getting one this year. Done.

• Start a Buy list – yeah, that's pretty standard too, and most of it is already bought in fact. Buying tape, sugar, and butter with every grocery trip (hence, "lots of pie.")

• Buy Christmas cards, stamps, and labels – hey I bought cards on Dec 26 last year! Yay me! And I already have an adorable picture of Lucia to use with them, taken months ago before the tooth fairy snatched away her two front teeth, making it kind of an imperative that I get a picture of her now to capture the "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" moment (note to self.) But perhaps that will go on my return address labels, or my stamps. Because hello USPS.com? Holiday stamps are available Oct 21, but you can theoretically pre-order them (and I've got my eye on the new "Evergreen" forever stamps) however every stinkin' time I try to log on to that site I get some sort of grief. This time I get: "The command cannot be completed because the parameter "URL" was not specified." What does this mean? So I searched for "Help." H is for hurry, E is for urgent, L is for love me, P is for please please before I go p-p-postal? "Search Results: We could not find any matches for your search." = BLUE MEANIES.

Which leaves:

• Schedule all appointments

• Create and finalize the Christmas menus

I guess I can work on these while doing "Scratching things off our list":

• Finish our gift list

• Write and address Christmas cards and family letter

• Schedule our Christmas shopping days

• Start our gift shopping

• Purchase Christmas outfits

• Begin Christmas baking

• Decorate outside and inside

I think the mistletoe will go nicely with the Halloween spiderwebs, don't you?