Last year I wrote a December to-do list, inspired by A'Dell. It was so helpful! I'm doing it again, so the holidays can be possibly less stressy and nuts than they tend to be. (Although you will note that I am not adding "come down with strep three days before Christmas," HEAR THAT 2011.)
1. Hang lights on the house. (Hey, Mike, hang lights on the house!)
2. Make a decision about holiday cards. To send them or not to send them, that is the question.
3. Find a place for a girl's holiday tea. Then send an evite for said tea.
4. Gifts for Kyle's teachers. I think we'll make cookies with a Starbucks card attached, like always. Hey, who doesn't like sugar and the gift of fancy coffee? (Crazies, that's who.) (Kidding, if you don't like those things.)
5. Advent Calendar Activities. My sister and her family are visiting the week of Christmas, so I thought about making just a week-long advent calendar with fun activities for the boys to do together.
6. Christmas pjs!
7. Christmas menus. I'm thinking of dinner out on Christmas Eve since my sister won't arrive until that afternoon. Then we'll have our traditional cinnamon rolls and mimosas Christmas morning, and a big Christmas dinner spread. We'll have our traditional breakfast for dinner another night that week, when Mike's parents can join us.
8. Make my birthday plans. I'm skipping a party this year and stealing away for the night with Mike. I'm really excited.
9. Look at Christmas lights! I love this tradition and we'll either do this Christmas Eve or Christmas night.
10. Take a ride on the vintage railroad that runs from one nearby town to the Fort Worth Stockyards.
11. Make lasagna for a neighbor. There's a very sweet elderly woman who lives near us and ever since we first met her (years ago!), I've wanted to bring her a meal, to just be a little neighborly. We'll see if I can pull this off.
12. Write my (more realistic) 2013 to-do list. I hear you, readers! I should go easier on myself with the goals I set next year.
13. Take Kyle to see Santa. (It's free at Mike's work and I think free is grand.)
We're going easy on gifts this year, so I think I can knock out my shopping in one afternoon on Amazon, but I'll still probably add a task or two to this list, if I can think of something I'm absolutely overlooking. What's on your list?