MAKING A LIST …..

Here I am, ten days out from Christmas, and duly procrastinating my precious time away.  That’s what I do, and I’m darned good at it. 

I’m not sure if this is a natural, inherited ability or the years of practise I’ve put in.  I suppose it could be both.

At any rate, let’s set the stage: Like I said ten days till Christmas Eve – in our family that is the day of the big gathering and the most food.  Kids and grandkids begin arriving on the 23^rd – the decibel level will go from Grandpa’s-TV-is-too-loud to five-over-excited-kids-the-day-before-Christmas-loud and stay there until mid Boxing Day when they all head home again.  It also means three large dogs hopefully tiring each other out and sleeping a lot.

I am hosting the family feast this year – only 23 people on the guest list so we may only need two tables … note to self – need to pick up the extra table.  I have the menu mostly nailed down … note to self – need to request pickles, Carols’s barley salad, and desserts for the folks who don’t like Christmas pudding.  My first batches of cookies have already disappeared so that needs done again.  I froze and hid the tarts so they make it till the big day.  We also require a third batch of poppycock.

It's also been requested that we test the airbed to make sure it holds air this time.  Some people are so fussy!

Of course, in order to stay on top of all this I rely on my secret weapon … I make a list.  Well, actually, I make several lists because I can’t always find the one I started with.  In searching for something else in my desk clutter this afternoon I found my original and got to cross a couple things off.  The rush of accomplishment was so great I decided I could take time off to write an entry in my blog so I added that to the list and shelved my hunt for the letter from Revenue Canada.  What could possibly go wrong with putting that off?  On second thought, better add that letter to my list.

Lists are tricky things, but they are necessary; take my current situation – my goal is to be ready to host Christmas but my list keeps me on track on how I’m going to accomplish that readiness.  I started it in November because I knew there was a lot to do and I’m aware of how easily I can be side-tracked when the next thing on the list is ‘clean out the fridge’. 

I also succumb to the illusion that merely writing a task down means the job is half done … or that ‘cleaning the porch’ means that ‘decorating the porch’ will magically happen by elves in the middle of the night.  I washed the floor two days ago, the banister still has no holly or tinsel, and the floor is dirty again.

And then there are the jobs that weren’t even on my Christmas radar.  I know that we were waiting for the butcher to call and say the beef is ready but when the call came this morning suddenly that meant we had to clean out and rearrange our storage capacity to fit it all in.  I’ve let the over-zealous food provider I’m married to deal with it for the time being.  Hopefully the weather stays really cold till the kids can take their share home after the holidays.

My scribbled up and scratched out list still says I have beds to make up, air bed to test, totes to store downstairs, a whole forest of house plants to put into suspended animation so there is room for humans in this house, one more gift to wrap when it arrives, and more baking to do.  Oh yeah, and a fridge to cleanse.

And meanwhile, here I am, writing a blog that wasn’t even on my list.  Procrastination is an art form.