Christmas Chaos

The hustle and bustle of Christmas shoppers. The lines that rival my wait for the final Harry Potter. Finally getting through the green turn light after waiting for five minutes. Finding out that the item that you rushed over to purchase is the wrong toy. Seeing the cuts on your wrist and fingers after you searched through 50 boxes trying to find just ONE green scooter. The new outdoor Christmas tree that burns out in two days, the extension cords, ornaments, boxes, broken lights, glitter covering your face, fake Christmas tree needles stuck in the carpet. The Christmas CD's you can't find, the paint on the counter top, the Mod Podge in your hair and the smell of burning cookies in the oven. The endless wait in customer service, the hours searching online. Here and there and everywhere twice in one day.

That is what Christmas has felt like so far. But I am pleased to report: IT IS FINISHED! I have done nothing else over the past week or more, but let it be known that the decorations are up, the lights are shining bright and finally, yes finally, my Christmas shopping is complete!! Hurrah! And a huge Yippee from Rich, heralding the commencement of my never ending running list and mouth about this and that and to who and what. And I'm sure he'll chuckle that I was stressed over it all since it's the late date of December 1st.

I usually don't feel the need to finish so early, but when you are flying home on the 20th, you have to have the decorations up as soon as possible to make it worth all the effort. And when Thanksgiving came and went and Black Friday didn't mean scouring the adds and stores finding deals, I knew I had my work cut out for me to get the must have items. The boys have been quite specific about what they hope to find under the tree, and since the lists haven't varied in the past month I knew it was safe and wise to purchase now. Thanks to far too many trips to Toys-R-Us, Wal-mart and various stores here and there, I feel confident smiles will abound on December 25.

Yes, there are presents stashed away in my closet, cupboards, the attic, under a blanket in the back of the van, some are in route to Utah via free shipping online and a few are under the tree. I pray I can gather them all up when it's time to pack and hope even more that we can fit them into the luggage and shove it all in the back of the van. That may end up being our Christmas miracle. Every year Rich says there is just no way humanly possible to pack clothes, shoes, toiletries, coats and our entire Christmas and haul it across the country. But every year I do because I can't stand buying things full price, hate paying for shipping and certainly would be a basket case if we waited to shop until we got home. No sir, I get it on sale, wrap it myself, pack it up and I'm proud of it!

The one thing I haven't been as great about this year is keeping all the toys secret. Trey spied a game in the back of the van hiding under the girls blanket and I quickly told him that I had been buying gifts for children in our stake after I got their tags off our ward's Giving Tree. Yes, I had been shopping for those children, but the Battleground game wasn't going to the baby that needed pacifiers. I left it very vague and told him not to be disappointed if he didn't find that item under his tree. Then Matt discovered a hockey game meant for Josh in my closet and I told him a neighbor had asked me to store it for her. OK, that was a lie, but what is the real Santa Clause to do? I hid the rest in a safer location this morning hoping to stay off the Naughty List now that I can stop fibbing to my kids.

Now I can get us all on track and start looking for service opportunities in stead of the next great deal on Amazon.com. I hope the Christmas season will slow down a bit so I can sit back and enjoy it at least for a moment in between the rest of the hustle and bustle this time of year brings.

Here's a peek at what Christmas looks like at our house.

The front yard.EntrywayThe tree The family room. My Ebay find from last year and Christmas trees I made at enrichment in Louisville.Kitchen Christmas crafts from Traci.

Merry Christmas from my home to yours! And may your holiday season be merry, bright and STRESS FREE!