Ta-Da it’s Christmas!

There’s just over a week until Christmas, and I have so much to do.  I gave myself the gift of calm, and I’m setting aside my fears.  I haven’t felt the Christmas cheer too much this year but I am faking it until I make it.  So I am making myself a little ta-da list right here, to remind myself that I am making progress.

On Friday I took Mr 5 for his annual Santa photo.  He is understanding more and more each year about how this whole Santa thing worked.  This year I didn’t want to be in the photo.  I was sick of being in the photo.  So with a lot of bribing, some chatting while in the line and a very awesome Santa we had a photo with Santa.  I may have teared up when I saw him talking to Santa.  I can count the amount of adults he talks to on one hand.  It was progress and I was so proud of him.

I only have to buy a present for Paul and my mum and then I am done.  I have even made it easy for Paul to get me a Christmas present and put what I wanted on Layby.  Now all he needs to do is pay it off, take it to one of those charity wrapping places and I don’t need to poke and prod him to do it.

On Saturday Paul and I got stuck into the house.  I can actually walk into Mr 5’s bedroom now and I know exactly what is in my fridge.  Cleaning the fridge also means that I have realised I have a lot of frozen meals in there…so no need to do a big grocery shop this week.

I’ve already gotten half of the things Mr 5 needs for school next year.  I have them all in a box so I can keep track of it all.  It’s been so much easier buying it all bit by bit so that I’m not having to do a big outlay next year.  I got his uniforms last week and he looks so grown up!  I really don’t know what I am going to do without an off sider next year.

Yesterday I sat down and worked out food for Christmas Day (Mum if you are reading this I found some cinnamon bread sticks that sound delish!), well some of it.  I’ve written myself a list of the food, with the ingredients listed underneath.  I feel good to have it all set out in front of me.  It’s easier than just a grocery list because then I know what I need the ingredients are for (there have been times when I figured I didn’t need something and it ended up being a crucial ingredient for a recipe).

I’ve also started a calendar.  Time is just getting away from us at the moment and it’s helpful to have things laid out in date form.  Paul and I were getting caught in the trap of thinking ‘Oh Christmas is a couple of weeks away’ even though it isn’t!

I must confess that yes I am a bit (ok a lot) of a control freak.  I like things to be just so and I can tend to get a little emotional when things start to go haywire.  In the past I have just not made plans or pretended not to care, thinking that it would help.  It doesn’t.  So this year I am embracing the control freak and using it in a positive way.

I know that things aren’t going to go 100% the way that I have planned in my head and I am OK with that.  I have better calming mechanisms than previous years and I know that I *will* survive if things aren’t just so.  This year I’m planning, but I’m embracing the calm.

What’s on your ta-da list this silly season?

 

 



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