Gearing up for the Holidays
Well its that time of year again. The time of year when the stores get crowded, you start seeing red and green and little white lights everywhere, and our pocketbooks all get a little lighter (or in some cases a lot lighter). Its the Holiday Season (I say Holiday because there are so many gift giving holidays during December, though admittedly Christmas gets more of the screen time than most of the others...though Hanukkah has its weight too) and so its time for all of us to do a bit more work than we might be usually accustomed to. You know, stuff like baking, planning parties, buying gifts, wrapping said gifts, and traveling. It becomes a whirlwind, and with 26 full days left until Christmas it might seem like we have plenty of time to get all the shopping, planning, wrapping, cooking, and traveling done. However, as work days pile up and deadlines close in we quickly find that time runs out too soon like it always does. Who here always feels like there's plenty of time to accomplish all our tasks and then suddenly there's no time? (waits for raised hands) Yeah, me too. So today, I went out and tried to get a few things done before I ran out of time. I now have all my stocking gifts purchased, a new supply of wrapping paper and clothes boxes, and several sheets of decorative paper on which I plan to print certificates. Also, on Friday I finished my grandmother's and my mom's boyfriend's gifts for this year. I'm feeling pretty good at this point (whoo! prances around like Rocky before a prize fight). However, I think if I had more free weekends coming to me I don't think I would have gotten so much ahead. Are we ready for my holiday calendar? Here it comes!
So this week at school we have a block schedule (which always seems to speed up the week) and the first two days of Junior Diversity, which will relieve me of half of my students for Thursday and Friday so this week will be eaten up fast. So I can use this coming weekend to accomplish stuff right? Well, not really. You see, the only time my sister has to see my father this Christmas happens to be this weekend. So we're all meeting at his place in Athens for an early Christmas. Pop and I will exchange smaller gifts I'm sure, since he and I will meet again for Christmas day in Pennsylvania like we usually do and thus we do not need to give all of our gifts right away. But I do have to have a gift for Miss J and and gift for Mr. J ready and wrapped by Friday. I will spend the weekend there and so I won't have any time to get much done until I get home on Sunday, and I will most likely spend that time wrapping and getting ingredients for baking that coming week. The next week I have Monday and Tuesday Junior Diversity with the half of the students that I didn't have the previous Friday and Saturday as well as the sophomore field trip on that Tuesday as well, which will speed up the week again. Wednesday or Thursday I will do my spritz cookies and my cream cheeseball because Friday night I have an Ugly Christmas Sweater party to go to. I will also print up prize certificates for that evening as it was our idea to give everyone a personalized award for their sweaters (like "Most Inventive Use of Holly" or "Best Worst Sweater"). Of course, the awards will be determined by what people actually wear, which is why I'm doing a generic blank certificate that I can write names and award names into. After that I have Saturday and Sunday to get the next round of gifts wrapped, which would be Miss J and Mr. J's second round gifts and Mom's gifts as well as all the stockings for that group as well. I'll probably have time to wrap the third and final round of gifts for Pennsylvania that weekend too (Uncle Mike, Mommom, and Dad's second round gift), but I don't have to. That third week is our last of school until New Year's and we will have auditions for the musical revue, a choral concert that I am chaperoning, a block schedule, and then an assembly and early release that Friday to finish us off so once again, that week will go by in a flash. Add to that our annual department potluck where we exchange gifts and eat and you've got a highly festive and rough week. Then that Friday I drive home to WV just like last year to have Christmas with Mom and Miss/Mr. J. Following that I will drive back to Ohio to chill for a few blissful days until hitching a ride with Dad for our traditional Pennsylvania Christmas, and then back to Ohio again for the second week of break and New Year's. Are you exhausted from reading that? Me too, and I haven't yet done it all.
So, here's my list of things yet to be accomplished: I must buy my baking ingredients, print certificates, get an oil change in Athens, pay the bills, find or make an ugly Christmas sweater, finish buying all the gifts I need, and then wrap everything. I think I can do it, but you're more than welcome to cheer me on for those days I need moral support.
OH!
I almost forgot, I will be having my second annual 25 Days of Christmas Movies starting this Wednesday, December the 1st. There will probably be a few repeats from last year, but there will also be new films examined as well. I hope its as fun to write as last year's was, and I hope you readers enjoy it as well. Now, bring on the season!
So this week at school we have a block schedule (which always seems to speed up the week) and the first two days of Junior Diversity, which will relieve me of half of my students for Thursday and Friday so this week will be eaten up fast. So I can use this coming weekend to accomplish stuff right? Well, not really. You see, the only time my sister has to see my father this Christmas happens to be this weekend. So we're all meeting at his place in Athens for an early Christmas. Pop and I will exchange smaller gifts I'm sure, since he and I will meet again for Christmas day in Pennsylvania like we usually do and thus we do not need to give all of our gifts right away. But I do have to have a gift for Miss J and and gift for Mr. J ready and wrapped by Friday. I will spend the weekend there and so I won't have any time to get much done until I get home on Sunday, and I will most likely spend that time wrapping and getting ingredients for baking that coming week. The next week I have Monday and Tuesday Junior Diversity with the half of the students that I didn't have the previous Friday and Saturday as well as the sophomore field trip on that Tuesday as well, which will speed up the week again. Wednesday or Thursday I will do my spritz cookies and my cream cheeseball because Friday night I have an Ugly Christmas Sweater party to go to. I will also print up prize certificates for that evening as it was our idea to give everyone a personalized award for their sweaters (like "Most Inventive Use of Holly" or "Best Worst Sweater"). Of course, the awards will be determined by what people actually wear, which is why I'm doing a generic blank certificate that I can write names and award names into. After that I have Saturday and Sunday to get the next round of gifts wrapped, which would be Miss J and Mr. J's second round gifts and Mom's gifts as well as all the stockings for that group as well. I'll probably have time to wrap the third and final round of gifts for Pennsylvania that weekend too (Uncle Mike, Mommom, and Dad's second round gift), but I don't have to. That third week is our last of school until New Year's and we will have auditions for the musical revue, a choral concert that I am chaperoning, a block schedule, and then an assembly and early release that Friday to finish us off so once again, that week will go by in a flash. Add to that our annual department potluck where we exchange gifts and eat and you've got a highly festive and rough week. Then that Friday I drive home to WV just like last year to have Christmas with Mom and Miss/Mr. J. Following that I will drive back to Ohio to chill for a few blissful days until hitching a ride with Dad for our traditional Pennsylvania Christmas, and then back to Ohio again for the second week of break and New Year's. Are you exhausted from reading that? Me too, and I haven't yet done it all.
So, here's my list of things yet to be accomplished: I must buy my baking ingredients, print certificates, get an oil change in Athens, pay the bills, find or make an ugly Christmas sweater, finish buying all the gifts I need, and then wrap everything. I think I can do it, but you're more than welcome to cheer me on for those days I need moral support.
OH!
I almost forgot, I will be having my second annual 25 Days of Christmas Movies starting this Wednesday, December the 1st. There will probably be a few repeats from last year, but there will also be new films examined as well. I hope its as fun to write as last year's was, and I hope you readers enjoy it as well. Now, bring on the season!
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