It's beginning to sound a lot like whining....

Why is everyone acting so stressed? There are 19 days until Christmas Eve. There are only 10 days of work remaining: 3 days gift shopping, 1 day putting up the tree, 1.5 days writing cards, 2 days wrapping, 1.5 days cleaning, 1 day cooking = 10 days. You have 19 days to get 10 days worth of chores finished! You can drag your ass and still finish with time to spare! So enough of the bitching and complaining!

The boys did a wonderful "Christmas Vacation" job on the outside lights. That is the first time I gave up control, handed them the lights and left. It was liberating to have one of my traditional holiday chores be done by someone else and be finished 3 weeks early.

Here is the breakdown so far: 1 day planning my budget and gift list (to which I ignore), 1 long day in the mall, 1 day online shopping (1 Overstock order, 1 Amazon order, a couple of ebay orders) and 1 day pre-cleaning (when the parents are coming you have to pre-clean so that you can be prepared to actually clean closer to their arrival- you simply remove the top 3 layers of dust,but be sure to leave the final layer for Cleaning Day). Thus, I have put 4 days in so far.

The whole Christmas thing can be accomplished in 14 days. That is for someone like me to whom the entire burden of providing a beautiful Christmas for 6 people lies. I shop for 7 nieces and nephews, my sister, my parents, and my friends. I also shop for my 3 sons, so they wake up on Christmas morning to everything they wanted and more. I go out and buy a tree, drag it off of my car and set it into the stand. I try to bribe someone to help me get it into the stand. The worst part of the whole season is getting the damn tree into the freaking stand straight- relationships have crumbled over this issue alone. Then I drag the boxes up from the basement, put the lights on the tree, decorate the house including creating my famous pine bough centerpiece, plan and cook 2 elaborate meals, buy antipasto and chocolate and wine and fine liquers for the guests, write the Christmas cards, wrap over 120 presents, ship boxes all over the country, and scrub the toilets and de-mildew the shower. I draw the line at baking- sorry although I seem to be her, I am NOT Suzy Homemaker and there is not such thing as an EZ Bake Oven.

I do all of this with no help. And what do I get for my efforts? NOTHING!! Not one damn thing! Well not really true, they do toss me a few trinkets. Bitter? No! Bitching and complaining? NO! Why, you ask? Because there are 19 days left and only 10 days of work to do!