December Already???

I can't believe that tomorrow is December 1! Here I was, feeling pretty good about Christmas preparations, and that calendar goes and messes it all up! haha

Over Thanksgiving pumpkin pie, we had our annual "what to do in December" conversation. For a number of years right after the divorce, we were gone every weekend in December, doing activities, seeing friends, etc., and it was really stressful, not to mention, we were so busy doing "stuff" that we weren't focusing on Christ. So for the last 3 years or so, we have cut our traveling back drastically the last month of the year. We reserve one weekend to see our friends in Cincinnati and choose one other out of town (ie, 1/2 hour or more away) activity, but other than that, we stick close to home. How that's going to work this year with a son chomping at the bit to drive every weekend and a daughter who reluctantly takes her turn ;-), I don't know! I'm thinking we might be doing more right-after-school,-in-town driving this month. Maybe. Perhaps. Possibly. We'll see.

Anyhoo, I made up a list of things that need to be done yet before Christmas eve, and it's not too overwhelming. If I can stick to this and not add 100 other things, we'll be fine. :-)
1. Finish shopping. (I only have my brother and a few stocking stuffers left.)
2. Wrap gifts. (Can easily be done in a couple hours)
3. Christmas cards. (Usually I have these done before Thanksgiving, but again, will only take a couple hours one evening.)
4. Decorate the house. (Kids will help so will only take an evening.)
5. Get a tree and decorate it. (We get a live tree, so this will wait until 7-10 days before Christmas. We'll put it in the stand on one night and decorate the next.)
6. Cookies. (This is the biggie. It usually takes 3-4 hours to do our cut-out cookies and then several more hours to ice them. Sometimes we split it up into 2 days; some years we do a marathon and crank them out in one day. Just depends on the schedule and my mood! This is done the weekend directly before Christmas. Any earlier and there are no cookies left by Christmas Eve.)
7. Trip to Cincinnati. (I'm thinking the 3rd weekend of the month.)
8. Attend our church's Christmas play. (2nd weekend of December; the kids usually work the After Cafe, serving desserts to raise money for camp.)
9. Out of the area activity. We've actually already done this. We went to the Columbus Zoo Wild Lights this last weekend and had a very good time.

DS also thinks we need to make buckeyes, fudge and something else that I've forgotten, but we'll see. That may need to be a week-after-Christmas or New Year's Eve activity. I also need to get to the bank and start my 2011 Christmas Club account before it's too late. It's such a blessing to have that discipline of putting that money aside and be able to have a cash Christmas.

And I think that's it. At least I hope so!