The Postponed Thursday Thoughts, Edited

1. The past three days I have talked to a life-long (that's better than saying old, isn't it?) friend and the two siblings I communicate with the least. That's the upside.
2. I am feeling fairly relaxed about Christmas, at this point. I recently read last year's Christmas post and I think I have a better grip on things this year. It could be the lack of snow (so far) or the lack of the (happy) stress of a major life-changing event in the offing.
3. The two major stumbling blocks of Christmas preparation for me are Christmas cards and gift wrapping. Baking used to be in there too, but now, since K can help (or just take over and do it) it is not as much of an issue.
4. I have a hard time getting other stuff done if my Christmas cards are not done. I have lived in seven states, and have friends all over the country, and this is the once-a-year attempt I make to keep in touch with most of them.
5. I rarely, if ever, wrap Christmas gifts ahead. First, I have usually had no place to put them. Stuff takes up lots less room all stuffed together in shopping bags. We don't usually get our tree as early as we did this year either. Second, I don't ever have time to wrap early. It's the thing I do when everything else is done. Which sometimes is never. So I'm up late on Christmas Eve. Wrapping.
6. For as long as I can remember, I have always called the span of time from Thanksgiving right on through Christmas, New Year's and my husband's birthday, The Holidays. At our house, we celebrate a Christ-centered Christmas, have a Christmas tree, give Christmas presents, send Christmas cards, say "Merry Christmas," and I resent that I am maligned for using the generic term "holidays".
7. There was something else I was going to snark about, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it was. EDIT ALERT: Here I am, two and a half weeks later, and I remembered what it was! I was going to complain that radio stations who play Christmas music play the song from The Sound of Music, My Favorite Things. My Favorite Things is NOT a Christmas song! Nothing in the song indicates Christmas whatsoever. What is up with that?
8. I have big plans this weekend to get my Christmas cards done and to stay home all day Saturday and get one or two big projects done that have been on my list for months that I really need to get done before I decorate. However, I may have to sneak out for the Meijer Saturday sale, but maybe not.