Triage

Dear Mom,

With the countdown to Christmas approaching single digits, an excited Young Lady reminding me of the countdown, and less than a handful of school days available to me, I find myself in the triage approach to Handling the Holidays.

My brain scrambles over the overwhelming list of What Needs to Be Done and lands on the most urgent needs:
Who will I see today and is that gift wrapped?
Only 4 more days before THEY ARE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS BREAK!- WRAP AND HIDE! ( alarm bells are sounding in my head- think some kind of nuclear submarine crisis alarm in the movies.)
Does everyone have clean underpants?
Don't clean/iron/knit that now! You can clean it/iron it/knit it after 3:00 in front of the kids.

God Help Us if someone gets sick and misses a school day. There isn't time for that!

Baking cookies for the neighbors and serious house cleaning will wait til next week, when the kids are home on break and  not too much   nothing will happen in secret. 
For now, I am dealing with PRIORITY HANDLING only, trying to keep a clear head. Home cooked dinner every night, clean clothes, and basic home keeping.....

Every time I dare to think that the shopping is done, one more item pops onto the list. I have reached the point that after today, if it hasn't been purchased, then it isn't happening. I won't give up on the knitted gifts yet. Even if I have to wrap the yarn and knitting needles with a promissory note.

I caught myself daydreaming about What I will Knit after Christmas and then realized that I have a couple of baby gifts and a promised pair of socks to finish before I can indulge in some selfish knitting. Also, (and I think I do this every year) I have begun promising myself that this year I will start my Christmas Knitting in January and have gifts stockpiled, something hand knit for everyone on the list. Yeah. RIGHT. At the same time I think about Sweaters  I   Would Like to Have.  That probably fits in with that "buy 2 gifts and  gosh!, I think I will get ________ for me" phenomenon.

I also had to snap myself out of the crazy idea that I could drive up to Tabby Tree Weaver and buy some roving to spin. NO! No, KIM! No time for the drive. No time for the spinning. Remember the bag o'wool!

By the possibly frantic nature of this post, it is clear that I could use some super glue and duct tape to keep it together, but I will manage. In 10 days it will all be over.

Love,
Kim