Things to do.

Because of Chad's new work schedule, he isn't going to be able to travel on Christmas like we have the past 4 married Christmases together. Traditionally, we have spent Thanksgiving with his family and Christmas with mine since they live farther away and we got more days off for the Christmas holiday. This year, we will be moving my family's Christmas to Chattanooga; I won;t be waking up at my parents house on Christmas for the first time in 28 years. I am both incredibly excited and a little sad; I am not usually a girl who likes change so this is an adjustment but it will be so nice to wake up in our own house - the one we lovingly take care of and call home - with the rest of my sweet family nearby. So, hurray for new traditions and honoring old ones too!

In the spirit of inviting my family into my home, I have started my to-do list prior to their arrival. With the hopes that I will actually get some of it all of it done, I am going to share it publically and let you in on my progress. Some of it I know I can't do until the day before (vaccuuming anyone?) but some I can do before and some are unfinished Christmas projects:

- clean off and set dining room table (after adding leaf to the middle to accomodate more sweet family!)
- finish mom's christmas project
- wrap Christmas presents (this isn't a chore...I LOVE this part!) (Edited to add: I do plan on taking pictures of all the cool stuff I made and sharing after Christmas. The suspense is killing me.)
- purchase/make 3 more presents (including a Dec. 26th birthday present for a bestie)
- clean up kitchen
- plan for and buy groceries for lots of fun family meals
- replace strand of lights on front porch decorations (thanks Dad B for making them work again!)
- sweep and vaccum floors
- clean bathrooms
- change sheets on all 3 guest beds (we will need them all! woohoo!)
- make one last Christmas decor project
- wash and return couch cover (this is a day before project...we should have taught the dog to just not get on the couch but well...eh...we like her too much)
- clean up craft room (this will obviously have to wait since I will be trashing it to finish projects)
- make giant batch of cinnamon rolls for all the neighbors (we are christening my friend K's new kitchen for this project! yippee for new double ovens...!)
- wash and put away clothes prior to company arriving
- figure out where another chair can go in the living room since we remove one for the Christmas tree and need the space for rears now that family is coming!
- acquire Wooby and Gwen's Christmas presents - a new long leash for Gwen so she can roam the backyard without chasing the neighborhood dogs and probably some cat grass for the Woobster. Gwen broke her leash and long leashes are cheaper than fences (which is on our "someday" house to-do list)


Surely this list will grow and shrink as the time goes on...I'll refer back and keep you updated (like you are really interested!)