Insanity

It's the 19th.... aaaaahhhhh! When I last wrote here I was not sure the red would be ok. It is growing on me. I am slowly getting used to it and it is better now that the whole floor is finished. I just finished the floor today. I am waiting patiently for the floor to dry so that I can get the furniture back into place. That is my job for tomorrow. The new furniture looks great so far. It fits well in the house and we all appreciate the couch-like qualities of the corner dining set. I sometimes wonder if my head is screwed on right when I take on these insane ideas, like painting your floor a week before Christmas. But here I am proving to the world, my insanity by blogging about one of my dumber ideas. Hubby must love me to put up with all of my insanity. Speaking of Hubby, I am hoping that Hubby will cut the shelves for our Christmas villiage. I am hoping that then I will feel like I am starting to get things done.

I love my Christmas villiage. I made it when I was first married. I ordered the pieces from Mary Maxim. They were unpainted pre-cast ceramics which I painted.... of course I had to paint them in my own way and ignored the instructions...... there was lots of room for creativity. I would mix the paints up and create new colours, I would dab the paint on instead of making smooth strokes. I enjoyed every minute of making them. They have always been a source of pride. When we moved into our very small house we had no clue as to where we would put my Christmas villiage but it was a must.... and so it went up regardless of having room for it. Over the years it has been moved from one corner and set of shelves to another more appropriate spot as our house morphs. This year he villiage has grown to an impossible size and so we are puting shelves in the windows so that it can be both indoor and outdoor decoration.

We always deck the rails of the steps with garland and ornaments. Over the years we have collected so many ornaments and many of them have a lot of nostalgia attached to them and so, even though we say every year that we will alternate them year after year, when the time comes to actually choose we end up breaking down and using them all. Our house ends up looking like a Christmas bomb has hit. We don't put up our Christmas stuff until late but we are late taking it down too.

When we moved to the mainland we were surprised that people didn't know what old Christmas day was. Old Christmas day has as much meaning for us as does the 25th. We celebrate all over again.... but instead of celebrating by decorating, we do the opposite... we celebrate by taking down. We hang old stockings and give gift just like on the real Christmas. Some people know it as Ukranian Christmas but for us it is old Christmas day. Our tradition of celebrating old Christmas day started when the girls stopped believing in Santa a few years back.... I had alway celebrated it but not with gifts. The girls were so upset that Santa was Dad and me, that we felt something needed to be done to end Christmas on a better note.

Christmas has been odd this year. Normally I'm further ahead with this than I am this year. But somehow I've managed to let things get away from me. I panic whenever I look at the gifts that are coming in in the mail.... gifts from people that I have gifts for too. Only the gifts that I have for them are not in the mail, gifts that are not even wrapped yet. I've reached the point in the calendar year where I just don't care about dates any more. I've passed panic! It's all about us now. If I don't get all my away gifts in the mail till the 24th, so be it. I'm late. Big deal. It's the 19th and I am resigned to the fact that I will once again be the person that everyone shakes their head at because I just can't meet deadlines. But that is ok. because on Christmas morning I won't have any of those people to listen to.... now it is just about us. Once I get to this point I throw my hands up in the air and say "come what may!" Christmas starts to be fun. My family is so laid back it will be alright I think. Nine days left. Woo Hoo!!!!! Soon it will be all over..... Our family away will just have to enjoy their gifts on Olde Christmas Day instead. Maybe I can start a new tradition. How cool is that? Maybe I'm not so insane after all.