It's week two already! Time is going to start flying!!!
- Do I see Christmas time primarily as a time for entertaining friends and renewing long lost acquaintances or as a time for family? - We try to balance entertaining friends with plenty of family time. We'll host a dinner party for friends the first Saturday in December but after that we don't have much else planned for anyone but us. No guests - as far as I know this year - other than some sort of visit from my sister and her boyfriend at some point.
- How involved is my family in the Christmas preparation? - I have typically done the bulk of the Christmas prep myself which I am fine with. DH helps with the outside lights and brings in the tall ladder I need to do the big Christmas tree. I have some baking and crafting activities planned to involve DS.
- What activities are particularly important to our family at Christmas? To myself? - Our trip to see Santa at the mall is a must! If it has snowed, we do a drive to look at Christmas lights. Last year I started the Pajama Elves box for DS and plan to continue this year. I'm planning a movie night to watch Polar Express the night the box "arrives" and another family movie night around watching The Grinch (DS hasn't seen that one yet) - I feel that it is important to plan ahead and schedule things like that or they just don't happen!
- Why do we observe the traditions we do in our house? - Many of our traditions are inherited from DH's family. Some have just evolved on our own.
- How important is an elaborately decorated house, homemade gifts or food, to my feelings about Christmas? - I do like to go all out on decorations! I truly enjoy doing it so don't plan to change anything there. I also have those I know appreciate homemade gifts so I work on those all year long as possible. I am trying to keep things simpler on the food front - especially since it will be just us for the actual holiday. Still planning to do Christmas cookies/trays for gifting and cinnamon rolls for co-workers and DS's school. Our freezer will be filled with appetizers for our dinner party and the rest of the menu will be quick/simple items like meatballs in the crockpot, shrimp cocktail and so on.
- What would my ideal Christmas be like? - It would be ideal to have both my sister and her boyfriend, my dear friend and her girls from CO and all of DH's brothers and their families all over to our house for one big long massive celebration. And while I'm dreaming, I'd want us all to go on horse drawn carriage or sleigh rides through softly falling snow, sipping hot cocoa and singing carols. But reality means we don't see a chance of that any time soon. Excluding THAT fantasy, ideal would mean we have lots of chances to enjoy the little moments of the season together with as little stress as possible!
Living Room Week Cleaning Tasks:
[ ] Vacuum couch including under cushions
[X] Bring in tall ladder
[ ] Dust ceiling for cobwebs
[X] Dust ceiling fans
[ ] Clean large mirror
[ ] Arrange books so ends are even with edge of shelf
[ ] Clean glass in antique cabinet
[ ] Oil antique cabinet wood
[ ] Dust (picture frames, entertainment center, etc.)
[ ] Clean TV screen
[X] Clean windows/sills
[X] Dust blinds
[X] Spot clean blinds as necessary
[ ] Clean light switches
[ ] Vacuum/Wash the floor (remember to vacuum behind TV cabinet and underneath kitchen cabinets)
[ ] Tile areas (Dawn and water)
[ ] Clean the rugs (Bissell)
[ ] Clean white outside lights (outside French doors)
[ ] Touch up paint on outside of French doors that got scratched
[X] Touch up paint on two accent walls, around large arched window
[X] Decorate for fall
We had company this weekend for Labor Day so I did not get as much cleaning done as I had hoped!
But just getting all the fall decor up was a good thing! Will be working in the rest of the tasks during the evenings this week. I have Friday off to prep for a party we are hosting Saturday, so I hope to do the big job of cleaning the floors that day!
Holiday Prep Tasks:
[ ] Buy extra flour, sugar, shortening, etc. - Will pick up flour again during grocery trip this week! Butter too!
[N/A] Make one extra meal for the freezer - Not ready to start freezer cooking just yet, but SOON!