Saturday.
Toured four beautifully decorated houses in downtown Fredericksburg during the annual Christmas Candlelight Tour.
Played hostess in the living room of one of the tour houses in the afternoon.
Spent the evening with our grandsons while our daughter and her husband went to her work Christmas party.
This is how our daughter found me (and Grandson #1) when they got home.
Sunday.
Met a greyhound hauler from Florida to pick up three dogs who were going to an adoption group in Maryland.
Missed the Greyhounds Rock meeting, because the hauler ran into bad weather on his trip north and was running late. Participated in the meeting via cell phone after I dropped off the dogs.
Hung out with some very fun, very crafty women at The Empty Nest ... making Christmas decorations, eating, and lots of laughing. Thank you, Janet, for hosting us!!
Monday.
Bug out of the house while the cleaning lady is here, and continue to chip away at the Christmas Shopping List. Made good progress.
Put lights on second Christmas tree ... this one isn't prelit, darn it.
This is our prelit tree in the family room, with shims under the stand because the floors in this old house are uneven in places.
I still have to put the skirt under it.
Edit and print Christmas Letter. Letters from some people are nauseating brag fests, but ours isn't. I tried to eliminate the letter years ago, but this was met with protests from everyone on our Christmas Card list.
Tuesday.
Go to Shumate Auction tag sale. It was the estate of a seamstress, and I thought I'd find some cool sewing stuff. I passed on the machines, notions, and fabric (though there was one bolt of Waverly toile that I really, really wanted ... but had no use for.) I left with a wonderful 6-board antique chest that will live in our guest/grandkid bedroom.
Address and mail Christmas cards and packages. I only had two packages to wrap and mail, and about 30 Christmas cards. The cards have glitter on them ... and so do I after handling them.
Make dog stew. I supplement Ruby's commercial dog food with home-cooked veggie-meat-rice mixture ... cooking a large batch every few weeks and freezing most of it. With only one dog to feed right now, this batch of stew will last for about 10 weeks.
Wednesday (today).
Finish the last few Christmas decorations and get the boxes and totes out of the entry hall.
Go to the vet to pick up a case of Dorothy's cat food. (she eats prescription food to help with her tendency to develop urinary crystals.)
Write and mail Christmas cards that I forgot about on Monday.
Do laundry and pack for our trip to New York City this weekend. This is a bucket-list item for The Husband. We quit putting it off, and this year we have made time to spend a long weekend seeing the New York Christmas sights and a show with friends. Ruby is spending the weekend with my parents, so I have to pack her things, too.
One of the other items on Monday's list was to de-shed Ruby, since I noticed that she was starting to blow her undercoat.
Even with all of this seemingly-nonstop activity, preparations for this Christmas are fairly relaxed. I'm not stressing about shopping or decorating. For shopping, I made a list and have stuck to it, for the most part. The Husband did most of the house decorating while I was out doing other things over the weekend, and the place looks really nice.
Family room mantel
I love Christmas and all that comes with it!! I expect that this year may be the best one yet! (I say this every year.)
How are you doing with your Christmas preparations?
