Countdown to Christmas

I can't do the whole advent calendar/have your holidays perfectly planned/decorate like the Potter Barn catalog/cook like a gourmand every day of the month thing. Instead, I have ordered myself into the holiday spirit by the "do at least one holiday thing a day" command from here until Christmas.

So that's the low down on the plan.  It's all subject to change and whimsy and how cold it gets outside. It also involves a certain amount of participation from that boy who lives with me, but I think the holiday spirit will also move him when I tell him it should. Plus, I think he is starting to understand that making it through the winter dreariness is going to take some hard work on both our parts or I will succumb to my battle of winter blues and cry with the cat in my lap every afternoon when it is dark outside by 3:30.

November 30: We went to the holiday parade in the downtown area of the small town where we live.  There were a few floats from local businesses, some motorcycles with antlers attached to them, Girl and Boy Scout troops, and the firetruck brought Santa at the end. It was short and sweet and then we walked home.

December 1: We went to a musical event hosted by the music department at the University where my husband is on faculty. It was perfectly strange and glorious and I called it "Date Night" on Facebook even though it was really just something my husband felt obligated to attend because his students asked him to.

December 2: We bought a wreath at a local tree farm and put it on display on our balcony. We also enjoyed watching the other people at the tree farm have quality "family time" that involved bickering and one woman crying. We picked our wreath and left as quickly as we could. (I would say this outing was a bust, but I really like the wreath so the end result was worth it.)

December 3: I made molasses cookies for the boy and brought some to the students in my class that night.

December 4: I put up a display for our holiday cards that is kitty proof!! She can't reach it.  Also, it only has three cards on it right now and two of them are Thanksgiving cards, but it doesn't matter. It will be filling up soon enough.

Why, yes, I do have to stand on a stool to add cards to the display. It's only once a day and it won't kill me. Probably. (Maybe I'll rebreak my leg, but I try not to think about that too much.)