It's DECEMBER 1st!

Nearly never, not in years, have I been ready for December 1st. What does it mean to be ready for December first (in Melissa's dictionary)? It simply means that my head is in the game, and I'm cognizant enough that I've begun preparations prior to December 1st so as to be ready to begin those fun all-December-long activities that I've been saving for when I can get my act together. Whew. Are you with me so far?

I don't know how it happened, but this year I was thinking ahead. When one of our production rehearsals fell on Halloween, I got feisty. I was determined not to let the show take over our family life, and I went into some kind of hyper-awareness so that no holiday or traditional activity would have to be scrapped because I too overwhelmed by rehearsals and wasn't prepared. We had no time to decorate for fall prior to November 16, but gahldarnit, the decor came out, and the decorating got done (as soon as I'd had a good 8 or 12 hours of sleep after the show). All the contemplating about how many days until Thanksgiving and how long the decor would be up had me looking ahead, so I knew December was coming in a matter of days. All the hype about Black Friday helped too. How can you not begin to think about Christmas presents and planning when all those luscious sales are in your face?

Whatever it was that got us ready, I'm grateful for it. We began our month of December on November 30 with our Family Night activity. I pulled out a notebook I'd prepared a few years ago that had a scripture, carol and story for each day of December. We read the December 1st story and talked about it. We sang the carol and read the scripture. Kelly and the girls assembled the tree and put lights on it while I made cookies for a treat (Pillsbury; don't be too impressed). After the girls were in bed, I assembled the Advent countdown boxes (pictured above) that I purchased a week ago on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/GongyAndSquish. I had been to Walmart in the morning to get the goodies I needed.

Once upon a time (before kids), I had all of our Christmas shopping done in October. I don't think one has to be that far ahead of the game, but it was nice not to have to be having anxiety attacks every other day in December. After several years of feeling so extremely behind schedule, it's nice to be ahead this year. I'm looking forward to enjoying the month and doing some of the activities that usually get passed over.

It's not too late. It's still December 1st all day today. Think of the things you can accomplish if you start today.