In denial

I cannot believe Christmas is in 9 days! And I am sitting here wishing I had all sorts of wonderful Christmassy projects to share. Or photos of all the amazing holiday things we've done as a family. But truth be told, most of these past 16 days of December have been filled with the norm with a small few seasonal things mixed in.

I attended an ornament exchange early in the month. I spent several hours making mine and walked away with some pretty beautiful ornaments made by others. (perhaps a post for another time)


We hosted our annual Christmas party with all of our friends last weekend. It was the 8th Annual 4 Meats. Yes, we call our party 4 Meats and feel very blessed and honored that so many friends carve out a day in their own busy Decembers to gather around to celebrate. It is called 4 Meats because way back when, my husband (then fiance) and his roommate hosted a small Christmas party for some friends in their apartment. On the BBQ he cooked chicken, steak, and sausage and it was observed that this was the 3 meats of Christmas (just like the 3 wisemen). The next year he and I were married and in our own home. We hosted yet another Christmas party. As we fondly remembered the prior year's 3 Meats of Christmas it was observed that there were 4 meat dishes on the menu. And at that moment 4 Meats was born ... and has been going strong for 8 straight years now. It's a blast! Complete with a huge potluck, a White Elephant gift exchange, and "shot time" with the famous (infamous) jageritas.


We had the kids' friends over for gingerbread house decorating and dinner. After that we piled in cars and toured through a pretty cool neighborhood that decorates with lots of lights.


We saw Santa and then went to Disneyland to see it all decorated for Christmas. It was too chilly though and I had not packed proper clothing to stay and watch it "snow" on Main Street.


Tomorrow night is Hannah's Christmas recital in which she will be playing the role of Mary. I love it because when I was little, I too played Mary at the children's mass.

Then there's my office Christmas party.

And then the actual holiday will be here.

To date I maybe have a few presents of the 20+ I need to buy. I somehow have to miraculously come up with 2 teacher gifts between now (6:10PM and tomorrow morning).

I so want to feel the Christmas spirit. To really enjoy the season and the excitement that the girls get out of this time of year. But the pressure of everything is so overwhelming. Maybe if I can have all the shopping done and gifts wrapped by the end of the weekend there will be hope for me. Maybe.