What?!? No way. That can’t be right.
Is it really 100 days ’till Christmas?
Yes.
As of today, Friday, September 16, 2016, we are 100 days away from…
The MOST wonderful day of the year!!!
I’m a Christmas-holic. A peppermint-addict. A candy cane junkie. A carol-singing-wreath-hanging-merry little elf!
(Cue my hubby rolling his eyes, even though he says he secretly thinks my Christmas obsession is cute.)
If it wasn’t bad enough for my hubby to be married to Mrs. Christmas during the holiday season, enduring requests to drive past the better decorated neighborhoods just one more time, for the past 3 or 4 years I’ve been marking my calendars on September 1st (not December 25th) for a very wonderful reason:
September is the month when we get to kick off the 101 days till Christmas countdown!!! ???
Yesterday I got an email with the official announcement from the home organization website that puts together super helpful daily tips to make Christmas less stressful and more enjoyable by starting early.
I did a happy dance. ???
And then I decided to reply to the email, even though I figured they probably wouldn’t write back.
To the kick- off email that announced the 101 days to Christmas Countdown started, my reply was as follows:
YES!!!!! This was my favorite email of the day!!! I’ve been excited about this since September 1st! Lol!!!
Believe it or not, I actually got a reply! Early Christmas present! Yay!!! Cynthia wrote:
Well, bless your heart! You gave me a great chuckle after a long day. Thank you.
HAHAHA!!! I’m tickled!
Honestly, all holiday madness aside, I’m excited to start thinking about Christmas early. I even made a list!
12 Reasons to Start Christmas Planning Early (inspired by the 12 days of Christmas, of course!)
On the 1st Day of Christmas my planning gave to me: a Christmas card I didn’t forget to send!
On the 2nd day of Christmas my planning gave to me: two weeks vacation
On the 3rd day of Christmas my planning gave to me: three stress-free dinners
On the 4th day of Christmas my planning gave to me: four gift-wrapped presents
On the 5th day of Christmas my planning gave to me:
FIVE GOLD & MYRRH (& FRANKINCENSE & THE REST OF BABY JESUS’ MANGER SCENE WHICH WE FINALLY MANAGED TO FIND IN THE GARAGE!)
On the 6th Day of Christmas my planning gave to me: six teachers’ gift cards
On the 7th Day of Christmas my planning gave to me: 7 shopping spree days
On the 8th Day of Christmas my planning gave to me: 8 mistletoe kisses
On the 9th Day of Christmas my planning gave to me: 9 pics with Santa
On the 10th Day of Christmas my planning gave to me: 10 fuzzy sock pairs
On the 11th Day of Christmas my planning gave to me: 11 hot chocolates
On the 12th Day of Christmas my planning gave to me: 12 Christmas cookies
And that all sounds delicious and fun!
To be honest, there have been many Christmas seasons during which our family has gotten so busy with parties and activities and church events and rehearsals and programs that we hardly have been able to sit on our couch and enjoy the twinkling lights of our tree on a cool winter’s night.
Which, as my husband just reminded me, we don’t have many of here in Houston.
So on those few and far between cool Houston winter’s nights when we can sit on the couch and enjoy the twinkling lights on our Christmas tree, I want to be able to sit, savor the moment and cherish my family.
I don’t want to be stressing out about an impossible-to-finish-before-Christmas to do list.
So I am very thankful to Cynthia and whoever else is behind the 101 days to Christmas Countdown for helping my holiday stress level go down, our family’s enjoyment and togetherness go up …
… and for being pretty much the main reason why last year I managed to not only schedule and take family photos (thanks Kristi!), but I also managed to create, print, get addresses & send, for the first time in many years, Christmas cards!!!
We’ll see how much more organized I can get this year… I might even surprise myself by making that dark chocolate peppermint bark recipe that I’ve been meaning to make for years!
Laughing (and Christmas caroling through life,
Coppelia