progress

Ok, so it's November now. Here are all the things I was supposed to do in October, whilst handling a great big board meeting and shepherding Darth Vader through the neighborhood to troll for free candy:

"Finish our gift list" - done, refer to aforementioned "I have a new niece!" post. Woo, this is easy!

"Write and address Christmas cards and family letter" - Well, I'm still working on this, but it's mostly done. I even have stamps - thank you post office! I take back all the mean things I said about you, really! Oh and lovely Shutterfly address labels. I still need to print out copies of Darth Vader's picture from her Munchkinland days to go in the cards though. Want to see it? Here you go.

Darth is looking very chipper for the holidays, no? "Tin Man, I am your father. Search your heart, you know it to be true. Oh wait, you don't have a heart...my bad."

Regarding the dreaded family letter: I'm saving my annual rant on such nonsense for when I start getting some in the mail from others. I'm sure it will be jolly fun after this latest travesty of an election. Stay tuned!

"Schedule our Christmas shopping days" and "Start our gift shopping" - Ha, "schedule." And "start" - snort. I am so ahead of the curve here. One trip to Toys R Us and one Amazon visit and I'm pretty much done. Booyah! Well, with Lucia's gifts. Still. Also, I'm stashing all gifts over at my parents' house, just down the road from my workplace so I can head over there on my lunch breaks to wrap one or two at my kid-free leisure. Aren't I brilliant? Yes, yes I am.

"Purchase Christmas outfits" - I have a little plan here. Christmas this year with my extended family is likely going to be actually Christmas eve, and Christmas day we're going to be on our own to enjoy our presents, breakfast casseroles, and Kahlua laced beverages all damn day in the comfort of our homes. It's like a Christmas dream come true. I'm considering how well it will go over if I just insist on this plan every year, I love it so much. So anyway, Christmas outfits? One word: pajamas. And maybe this will be a surprise St. Lucia Day gift from me to my peeps so we have them early. See the "Very Merry Mommy" icon on my blog? 'Twill be emblazoned upon my lazy bod from 12/24 through probably the 26th or later. Can't. Wait. Also, I got my husband The Perfect Shirt to wear with his already fabulous flannel Santa jammy pants that he breaks out every December. Now what to get the kid? I'm waiting for Old Navy to come out with some swanky holiday kid gear... Star Wars jammies at Target are also a possibility (noting they only come in boys = reedonkuluss.)

"Begin Christmas baking" - Um, yeah. Well I made that chocolate ginger dough... and bought lots of chocolate, sugar, and butter. I guess I need to get busy on this now. Oh! stashed an extra pumpkin pie french toast casserole in the freezer - the verdict from the family on the first try is "maybe bake it according to the recipe next time so it's not such a soggy mess." Duly noted.

"Decorate outside and inside" - Well, I mean, it's only November. Perhaps I could take down the Halloween decorations though.. hmm. We do have a grand tradition in our household though: remember Lock, Stock, and Barrel from Nightmare Before Christmas? No? They were the little trick or treating ghoul kids from Halloween world. I bought little plastic figures of them when the movie first came out and now we get them out every Halloween and leave them up through Christmas. So see, I'm halfway there.

So, ok, on to the next list:
"Finish our gift shopping
Mail Christmas cards
Finish our holiday pre-making and pre-baking
Wrap and mail presents
Finish shopping for any remaining items on our Buy List
Enjoy our family."

I like that last item best.