Christmas Eve

It is Christmas Eve morning and I'm at work. It's not that I have any actual work to do, it's more that I'm required to be here. It should be noted however that they are only making us work a half day. Now for the facts of this particular Christmas Eve:

• My brain is swirling, swirling, swirling. It will not stop. I keep trying to grab things and write them down before I forget them but I still feel things I've forgotten waiting at the edges of my consciousness waiting until it's too late to pounce.


• The lights are still not on the tree.


• The house has not been cleaned.


• The baking has not been done.


• The food shopping for tomorrow is not done. I was suppose to do it yesterday but instead spent the evening at the doctor's with the 10 year old. Earache and possible strep. Every year one of them is sick. It seems he is the chosen one this year.


• I only have a couple of gifts left to wrap.


• A Hanukkah miracle has occurred. The older two received Cranium WOW for the first night of Hanukkah. We have all played it twice since then. The miracle? My FOURTEEN year old played and had fun and was animated and excited to play a board game with his family. Trying to hold on to that memory. Who knows when it will happen again.


• I have a late-breaking gift for one of the children which has thrown off the whole fairly even, fairly fair gift piles. Now I'm trying to figure out how to work it into the rotation. What I'm not willing to do is buy 3 more gifts. What to do? What to do?


• I really need to relax and approach my shopping without a frantic edge. It's all about state of mind now. I always make sure to not have to go to the store on Christmas eve. I hate the kind of crowds out there and yet here I am making lists of food for tomorrow, last minute needs and last minute chores. I'm afraid there isn't enough time left to get it all done.

Have a Happy Holiday! Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! May it be fun and stress-free.