Checked off my list today, Monday, 12/21:
1. Beverage shopping: Yes, it requires a separate trip. Very few grocery stores around here sell beer and wine. Plus, those bottles are HEAVY!
2. Annual charitable donations. It takes a lot of effort to get stuff together (and again, that stuff is HEAVY), but it's worth it for the tax deduction. More than that, it's a gift to myself to get stuff outta here! Purging feels sooo good...
My list for tomorrow, Tuesday, 12/22:
1. Food shopping: Going in with my finely honed "master list." I will take my time to make sure I get everything I need the first time around. I will leave non-perishables in the trunk of my car (because that stuff is HEAVY)!
2. Tuesday is trash night, so being that this is Christmas week, I will be extra careful to throw out everything that even looks like trash, to include cleaning out the fridge to make room for the stuff for Christmas dinner. I have no doubt that that stuff will also be HEAVY. But it will be nice to have a clean slate.
My list for Wednesday, 12/23:
1. Go back to the store to get all the things I forgot to buy.
2. Search for the vacuum and decent table linens, etc. (I really should remember to put those once-a-year things away in a more obvious place...)
My list for Thursday, 12/24:
1. Bring in all that (HEAVY) stuff from my trunk. Figure out where I'm going to put everything. Make cookies? (maybe/maybe not/okay, probably yes)
2. Collapse from exhaustion and have nightmares about either, a) burning an $80 roast or, b) burning down my entire house.
My list for Friday, 12/25:
For some odd reason, I consider this is to be my favorite day of the year. I will wake up early and make a big breakfast which we'll enjoy as we open presents. Shortly thereafter, I'll start prepping Christmas dinner. It will keep me busy all day long. I will ask myself if I'm a masochist, and wonder why I do this to myself year after year. I will swear that this is the last time, and that I'll never do it again.
Then, as family and friends gather around the table and everyone starts to eat the feast I created, I'll realize that there's no greater reward than to see the people I love enjoying a meal that I made; made for no other reason than that I love them and want to make them happy.