How Did It Get To Be December 30th Already?

Seriously, it should be illegal for the calendar pages to be flipping by this fast! I don't have my 2010 goals even close to being met, the Christmas tree is still up, we are way behind in driving hours for the kids and I have absolutely no clue how we will be spending New Year's Eve tomorrow! If we could postpone the new year for another month or so, that would work! haha

We had a very nice Christmas with my brother here for 2 nights. It was awkward the first year or two he stayed with us after it became apparent Mom was no longer up to overnight guests (and then went into a nursing home the following year). He works 3rd shift and when here would alternate between being grumpy on the couch, snipping at the kids to be quiet, and following me around constantly. A couple years ago, it dawned on me that I could CHOOSE to be kind and loving to him, regardless of how he acted, and that I NEEDED to CHOOSE to be kind and loving because my not-so-nice attitude toward him was rubbing off on my kids. The next year, I was very deliberate in taking time just to talk with him and spend time really getting to know him better. He's 10+ years older than me and even though we're only 2 hours apart in driving distance, we rarely see each other more than once or twice a year. That visit went so much better! And then last year, he told me that he on days he works, he does not go to bed to sleep, that he can't sleep during the day when it's so bright out and there is day time noise. Well, gee, that might explain his grumpiness if he's going 3 or 4 days without extended sleep! Understanding that has also changed my attitude and helped the kids understand why if he's snoring, we could give him the gift of being quiet for an hour or two. So this was a nice visit, and we actually talked about him coming up for a weekend this summer to spend with us.

I know these next few weeks are going to fly by, too. We still haven't finalized New Year's Eve plans, which I really need to do in the next couple of hours. Do we stay home and try to stay awake, well, do I try to stay awake? haha Or do we go to Cincinnati and spend the night with some friends? We need to get back to Columbus to have a mini Christmas with my niece, and a friend from church talked about coming over tomorrow or Saturday to show the kids how to change a tire, check fluid levels in the car, etc. Work has been super-slow this afternoon and promises to be slow tomorrow, too, so I also debated about trying to get my shopping done before the after-work crowd hits the stores. We'll see, but I'd better decided something, anything!, here soon. If we don't go to Cincinnati this weekend, we're going next weekend. Then we have a couple kids' 16th birthdays a couple weeks after that. And I need to meet up with my best friend from high school for our annual after-Christmas dinner in the next week or two. Somewhere in there I need to shop for said birthdays and try and get a semblance of a meal plan going so when DS comes home from school and inevitably asks what's for dinner, he does get "I don't know" every day! Is it sad that I'm already looking forward to a nap on January 23? :-)