So my little jaunt to Orlando last week kinda messed me up. It was the only time we could go, working around both my and Beth’s schedules, but now I’m scrambling to catch up!

I mentioned before that I was volunteering with a ministry to help coordinate some of the presents for local kids. One part of this was getting sponsors from our church – making an “angel tree” and setting it up at our church and making sure all the lines of communication were open about it. Last Sunday (as in, the 12th) all the presents were due. I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of generosity by the members of our church! I brought all the gifts home and cataloged them on a spreadsheet to make sure each child was covered. (The goal was for each child to get 3 pieces of clothing and 3 toys/fun things.) I was expecting to have to fill in a bunch of holes, but I really didn’t have to. There were 84 gifts (14 children) total. I had ambitious plans to wrap them all, but I ran out of steam after 48 presents. It was hard because Savannah kept making it very difficult to wrap presents. It was just easier to wait until she was sleeping, which didn’t leave much time!

On Tuesday I had a very busy day planned, as I had to drop all the presents off at a church about 30 minutes away, and also get ready for my trip which I was leaving the next day. Monday night I was rereading the instructions and realized I needed to print a form to accompany all the gifts. Oops! Since we don’t have a printer, I knew I had to run to Kinko’s the next day and print it quickly. Savannah’s PT appointment was at 10 the next morning, so I didn’t have much time.

It seemed that everything went wrong Tuesday morning. I was late leaving, forgot my wallet and had to go back and get it, Kinko’s machines weren’t working right, the copier ran out of paper, realized I forgot to bring breakfast for Savannah, etc. I made it on time to physical therapy, only to have Savannah be in a TERRIBLE mood. She spent the whole hour crying and reaching for me, and I had to go sit in the waiting room. I got a last minute email asking me to pick up a gift to be dropped off along with all the other ministry gifts. So I headed from the PT to another part of the city, where I found out that someone had come by earlier and gotten the gift. So I got back in the car and went on to the church where I dropped off all the gifts. Things started getting better here on out – I stopped by the vet on the way home and got all of Lewis and Ebony’s records (which I accidentally left here when I went to Orlando, oh well). I got home and Savannah refused to nap, which actually turned out fine because a little girl from our church came over to watch Savannah for me while I did some major cleaning. (That was so wonderful!) However, by the time Paul got home I was exhausted and not at all packed.

Then we were in Orlando for the next three days. Beth stayed the night here on Friday night, and Saturday after she left I realized I had an hour to shower, get dressed, and get to the party for the above ministry. I kinda melted – too many people, too many crazy days – and poor Paul took my place. I was sad that I failed on that commitment. I am still bad at knowing how much I can handle before I need to start saying no. Saturday night our church had a Posada, and I was fresh and ready for that (which we enjoyed).

Now I’m shifting my focus to Christmas!! The past two days I’ve gotten our tree up and mostly decorated. I put all the presents underneath it. I just now finished our Christmas letter, and now I’m trying to figure out what I should tackle next. My to-do list is long and mostly consists of cleaning the house at this point. Our downstairs is horribly messy and it needs to be spic and span before our guests come over on Saturday!

Also there’s this thing called Christmas dinner I need to make for the first time. Hmm… Order in, anyone? :-)

Okay, trying to focus on the Reason for the Season and not letting myself get too stressed. :-) But if you’re wondering why the Christmas card is late… then you know why!