Standing Guard...Standing their ground

100_0038, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Alright it is one day seventeen hours and so many minutes ticking down till it is Christmas! May I just say a quick "WOW" this year's countdown has gone fast. I'm not sure how it passed so quickly, but the final countdown is just killing the kids here. I swear the presents under the tree have been rearranged, slid, touched, shaken, held, so many times that if the gifts inside them are still in one piece it will be nothing short of a miracle!
Last night I tried talking the girls into going ahead and baking the sugar cookies one night earlier. Boy did I hear an earful and then some about how they are the cookies that are baked on Christmas Eve, and I don't get to mess with the tradition of that. The majority ruled and set me back in my place. I was thinking since they kept talking about the sugar cookie dough that we could bake them a night earlier, and then decorate them on Christmas Eve. I will never voice this thought again though. The good thing about not having anything to bake tonight is I will have the day to do that final good cleaning of the kitchen before all of the cooking that will be going on. Hey maybe if I'm lucky I will actually get that last load of laundry done...oh wait that last load has grown into two loads again but still.

Yesterday was my last trip out into the world till after the holiday, and boy were they people driving aggressive out there. All I had to do was pick up ink for my printer so I could finish a senior portrait order, but just about as soon as I was on the road I had thoughts of what a stupid idea it was. Good thing though, the little shop that I go to for the ink had no one in it. To bad it sits in the same strip mall shopping area that I think half of the town was at! Portraits are all printed and packaged though and will be ready for delivery after the holidays. After getting home I went through and for the third time did the check to make sure that I had everything for meals so as to avoid any more trips out to stores though. I'm sure being out today will be more of a risk to life and limb than yesterday was.

So that leads to the question, are you all ready? A week ago I thought for sure that it would need a 2 month extension to get ready for this, but have managed to pull it all together and actually find a day were other than cleaning I can have a few hours down time. I hope that no one has to make the ever dreaded trip out to any of the stores today. I hope that everyone has a great Tuesday, and remember if you are thinking about changing a tradition be ready to hear all about how wrong that idea is.