Tuesday, December 27, 2011

It's all over so quickly.

We had a lovely Christmas weekend.  It started with Chinese carry-out and ended with leftovers.  Friday night the girls arrived and we did carry-out since there would be an orgy of food and cooking for the next two days.  They spent time talking with us and finishing the tree decorations and it was nice to have a bit of time with them.  Christmas Eve "Noche Buena" party was good with plenty of food and just a nice number of people.  Christmas Day was relaxed with very thoughtful gifts exchanged.  I missed having the whole family together but some things are just not under my control so I can't dwell on it.  Then after a quick breakfast on Monday, it was all over and I spent the day packaging leftovers for the freezer. 

Today was clean-up day.  There's still scads more to be cleaned up and put away but at least the main rooms are presentable (although maybe not exactly clean!)  It's at this point that I just want to get everything put away and behind me.  I know that the 12 days of Christmas have just begun but I feel like it's the '12 Days of Procrastination' if I don't get the decorations down and put away long before January 6.

And I do have tip to party clean up to share - if you get a white "heat" mark on your good wood table did you know you could remove it with a hair dryer?  I had two large white heat marks on my good coffee table where someone placed their food plate down on the table.  When I researched on-line on how to remove the spots it said to use heat - either put down soft cloths and iron on the table, or to shoot it with the hair dryer until it goes away.  So, I tried the hair dryer. After a few minutes it started getting warm and then hot and then the white stain started fading.  I kept it up until it was gone.  Then a quick polish to restore the shine and it is like it never happened.  Amazing!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

"Fixed Expectations"


Cartoon from today's Washington Post.

In my family I'm the person that has all the "fixed expectations" of what Christmas should be and what we should eat and what we should be doing.  I have let some things go as I realized that absolutely no one cared whether we had gingerbread men or not, and I have managed to downsize decorations expectations but I still find myself thinking "Oh, we must must have fresh blueberry muffins for breakfast or it won't seem like Christmas."  Who am I kidding?  Yes, we like blueberry muffins, and yes people eat them, but no, they won't feel like they have been deprived of Christmas if I don't get around to making them.  And I think more feelings have been hurt by insisting on "traditions" than have been hurt by breaking traditions.  So, everyone, lighten up.  and Merry Christmas.