Nothing is constant but change for the holidays.

I seem to have done it again.  I really hate being predictable, but as crazy as it seems, I am.   Here we are at the holidays, one week to the day from Christmas Day.   Am I content to shop, bake, wrap, and mail Christmas cards?   Oh no, not me.

Just as I have done so many times in the past I found myself in the middle of a remodeling/redecorating project.   It's almost as if, somewhere in the middle of my tiny brain, there is a circuit that shorts out when the holidays get closer.  There is the smell of burning plastic, the arcing of hot wires....and the next thing I know there are workemen in my house and an impossible delivery date for furniture....or something.

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By five p.m. on Friday...just two short days ago, there were men exiting my house who were covered in dry wall dust.  They'd been busy carrying out the plan I'd made with the contractor just two days before,  two days of tearing out a door, drywalling a wall, then taping and mudding and smoothing.  Before I knew it they were gone, and I had no idea if they were going to show up on Saturday (isn't that overtime?) or wait til Monday (six days and counting from Christmas) to finish the wall, paint, and replace woodwork.  And that, of course, is when my own work really starts to get the room cleaned and together for our family gathering.

How does this happen?  One year I ripped the paper off the dining room walls two days before Christmas...another year I washed up after Thanksgiving in a "temporary" kitchen because the new countertop had arrived cut to someone else's measurements.  I've had holidays with no furniture....no kitchen....a "barely made it to the finishline" bathroom and other projects too numerous to mention.  My plans never leave any room for error, and they push the abilities of mere mortals to the breaking point. 

It's not as if the holidays aren't stressful enough...and even when I was managing a dozen radio stations I followed the same pattern.  I guess my sub conscious mind just says, "Hey!!   Let's see if we can bring this body to it's knees!"

It's not as if I didn't start the search for furniture at a good time...but even though the first furniture (which I never got) was purchaed the first week in September, the continuing saga is only finished today.

So....the workman showed up yesterday and did an outstanding job on finishing the wall.  I am now happily minus one door, I have a freshly painted wall, new furniture, and it took me half a day to clean up the white dust that covered everything like a tracking snow. 

I love our new family room.  Even though I tend to be color phobic, I chose a warm pumpkin color for the wall, and the room feels warmer and cozier.  The furniture (which my husband ultimately selected, by the way) is very comfy and we have plenty of wall space for a real couch, thanks to the nice young man who worked so hard to make the door disappear.

And so....it's "the holidays".  There's one sure way to tell...you can look at a calendar, your phone, or your computer......OR you can come by my house and look at the mess and you'll know the holidays can't be more than a week away.

The first step toward order is disorder, and finally everything is in order for the holidays.  My holiday tradition is this...the paint is dry and the food is hot....HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

 Life is Good.