Ready, Set, Go!

Today wrapped up my preparations for Christmas and with 4 days to spare. Yahoo! I can't recall at present ever being ready this early before. Might have in past years, as I always sought to be done early in the month of December. My success this year is probably due to the scaling back and simplifying of our idea of what Christmas should be about. For the past several weeks I have felt freedom from the preconceived notions of past expectations and what is being pushed by the media. To hear other people talk about their shopping excursions, baking, decorating, etc. only fueled my resolve to kept it simple this year. A challenge for myself on several occasions, as I would think of a particular decor item not being displayed or activity engaged in. Then the old "I need to get that put up" feeling would creep into my thinking quicker than a heartbeat. I am glad to say that I resisted each temptation and told myself "enough is enough". Reminding myself that what goes up, has to come down later. I did not want to create more work for myself than the enjoyment of the idea would bring.

A room by room clean-a-thon freshened the house today. From end to end and side to side, every room received what it needed. Working for 15 minutes and then resting for 15 minutes helped me to accomplish the tasks at hand and allow me to stretch my energies so that playing through out the day could also be accomplished. After all this is suppose to be one of my off days. Something cold to drink and catching up on my emails was a large portion of play time for me. Reading a favorite blog was a special treat as well. The fact that I have had the house to myself for 48 hours since Friday morning was a plus in getting everything finalized. No one was under foot, not even Tigger, our cat. Lon and Jason both have been on duty, due to each of them working an extra shift on each other's scheduled day.

Christmas shopping was completed and all packages were wrapped last evening. The tree now sports a fluffy skirt of colorful packages. Grocery shopping for the house and our Christmas dinner was also completed yesterday as well. It helped to have leftovers in the fridge to eat for my dinners these two days, instead of having to cook. Another blessing towards getting done what I needed to. So here I sit with all in readiness to start the count down to Christmas next week. Tomorrow we will have our Christmas musical at church and all that will be left is to enjoy Mom & Dad's visit. They arrive tomorrow afternoon to spend the week with us and other than some cooking for our Christmas dinner, I have no other plans than to relax and chat.

In the midst of cleaning this afternoon there arose such a cladder that I had to spring to my feet to see what was the matter. No, it was not a jolly figure dancing on my roof. It was not even someone come to spread good cheer. But destruction instead! Instantly, I recognized the distress call from one or more of our girls. Quick movement down the front steps revealed the visitor was not at all welcomed and was intent on some Christmas dinner for itself.

A small Marsh Hawk had one of our chicken in a tissy and pinned behind the azalea bushes out front. As I called to her if flew to a nearby tree, intent on trying to recapture it's meal. That is until I made a ruckus myself, convincing it to move on to find other hunting grounds. Capturing the frighten hen was of little trouble, as she collapsed behind a bush and allowed me to pick her up. Missing and ruffled feathers off her back and wings spoke of a struggle to get free. Whether they were removed by the hawk or the tangle of limbs under the bushes, it remains to be seen. She did receive an injury to her right eye, that was bleeding. But for now it is hard to tell whether she has any internal injuries that I can't see. Placing all the girls back into their play yard for safe keeping for the rest of the day, hopefully will persuade the chicken thief to look else where for a free meal. Upon inspection tonight as I closed up their coop, she was sitting quietly with the injured eye closed, which for now is a good sign. Earlier she was only laying on the ground not moving, but now she was up on the roost for bedtime. Tomorrow morning her activity will let us know if she will recover or not.

All the warm, wet weather of the past week has been unseasonably for this time of year. A trend that does not lend itself to keeping the Christmas ideal of frosty window panes, carolling in the snow, heavy coats, scarves and mittens, Christmas sweaters, mugs of hot chocolate and stockings hung by the fire. All may change tomorrow if the weather forecasters are correct in calling for a big dip in our temperatures, with highs in the 40's and lows in the 20's. The change will require a flip not only of the outside thermostat, but the inside one as well. For we have been having temperatures in the 70's for several days now. A chance to cuddle up in front of the fireplace may be in our future after all.

I'm ready, all set and waiting to go.

Deborah