363 Days until Christmas!

You plan and plan and plan,

then you shop and shop and shop,

and wrap and wrap and wrap,

you bake and bake and bake,

and then suddenly,

it's over.

I was surrounded with bags and bags of garbage,

trying to salvage the bows for next year,

separating recycle from garbage,

and wondering how the sweetness of anticipation

could be so quickly replaced with shredded wrapping paper.

Anticipation becomes an occasion,

an occasion becomes a memory,

and when an occasion is an annual one,

those memories build more anticipation

for the next year's occasion.

We had an amazing holiday,

with three of my five siblings here,

my parents, a niece and a nephew.

We drank gallons of coffee,

laughed long and loud,

we are a loud family,

played games, read books and got addicted to Sudoku.

The tree is still up,

the decorations are still coloring my home vintage red,

the Christmas cookies are nearly all Christmas crumbs,

but I'm already looking forward to next year.

I'm starting to write downs details of the week,

wins and losses,

things I would like to do differently.

If I wait too long, I'll forget.

More sewing and crafting need to be done next year,

I LOVED having that part of my life recharged again.

Wondering if creating one Christmas craft/gift

 a month during the year would be viable?

Am also considering making craft kits for gifts,

using some of the amazing ideas gleaned from bloggers.

About half of my decorations were used this year,

and the house still looked great.

I will go through the other boxes in the attic and get rid of more.

Broken things will be fixed before being put away.

A tradition for my grandchildren needs to be set,

whether I buy or make them a new ornament each year...

sew for them....?????

Praying about my Gramma Tradition.

As I unwind,

I will plan

just

a

little.

Because that's what moms do.

The occasion made wonderful memories,

therefore, my anticipation is building...

only 363 days until Christmas!