After an exhausting week of working through growing pains in dealing with stress levels of those we live with I find myself sitting in front of the fire, my Labradoodle sleeping, waiting for a sticky bun to come out of the oven, and a glass of espresso spiked eggnog next to me. Even if it is a warm 60 something degrees in December I am determined to keep the essence of December holiday spirit alive.
Stress is one of the hardest things to cope with especially during the holiday season but a phone call from my Aunt today helps to keep things in perspective. She told me she hadn’t thought through arriving to Texas on Christmas day. It didn’t dawn on her that it wasn’t probably a good idea until this afternoon. That’s my aunt for you, a bit of the unpredictable one. I say it just keeps her always surprising us.
I have been neck deep in getting the last minute touches finalized for the latest project I have been working on while trying to figure out the holiday baking and canning list. I’m hoping I’m not forgetting anything that’s important seeing as how I decided to not really cook for Christmas day. I’ve had to compromise the cookie list to just a couple of recipes this year instead of the many I had planned seeing as how my tumble and project work load has taken over this holiday. In all reality it’s probably a good thing seeing as I sometimes don’t know to stop for my own good. Already the Christmas day obligations are accumulating with family arriving in Christmas day, Skype sessions with both sets of parents, possible dinner plans with friends, and the need for some relaxation. It starts looking like a long distance Christmas Vacation as the mayhem unfolds the humorous horrors begin running through my head. At least I don’t have family as redneck as the Griswold’s and no cat to smell roasting. It’s all the special pleasures of a mayhem family Christmas. I have hopes that Christmas Eve will be the moment of breath before the crazy decent. Wish me luck I think we may all need it this holiday season.
(Picture taken at Rae Cosmetics)
