Days until Christmas: 6
Days until my birthday: 1
Over the course of the past few days, despite all the minor crises exploding around us, we have solidified some plans for the actual holiday season. These plans could not come quickly enough, as we are a day away from my birthday and less than a week away from Christmas. We are now in the thick of it, as they say.
The parents have relayed to us that Daisy's sister will be here for Christmas and through the week, and will arrive in town from Denver with husband and four boys in tow on Monday. Ish. That final day is in the air, but they will be here before Christmas. At least, that is the plan at the moment; it can always change at a moment's notice with their side of the family.
The selfish part of me is not a fan of this; I was looking forward to a quiet Christmas with Daisy and the parents and not being rushed through anything and everything by the family from out of town that everything must revolve around. It makes the holidays harder for both me and Daisy, as Daisy's role becomes "acts of service" to help prepare the meal and help entertain the kids, help with the dishes, help with the table in general, help, help, help. And I fall into that role as well -- I try to do everything I can in the background to lighten Daisy's load as well as lighten the load of the parents. While I love the family and the kids, make no mistake, it is a load to bear when all of them are in town. It makes a total of ten people in the house for the holiday and all of the noise and chaos that entails with four younger boys. Our oldest nephew is, I believe, almost 17, and he's pretty normal given the circumstances. His younger brothers...let's just say I love them but I can't wait until they grow and mature as much as he has so that the reign of chaos can soften to a much duller roar.
Of course, that's just the selfish side of me talking. As I've said before here, many times, Christmas is for the kids -- and those kids are so very excited to come into Omaha to spend Christmas with us and their grandparents. It is a great thrill for them, even if it means a ten-hour, one-way drive from Denver to Omaha.
So, now comes the hard plans for the rest of the month. You've seen this before -- I plot out what's happening every single day from around now throughout Christmas and thereafter as possible, every year. This is what we have on the docket so far. So far. As of approximately 7am on Friday, December 19, anyway.
Friday, December 19:
- Day off. Shower, feed the cats, wake up wife if necessary (wife is also off today).
- Reconcile bank account, as today is payday for me.
- Mail my parents' box to them.
- Visit the Humane Society for "volunteer day" -- i.e. why Daisy is off work today -- for an hour or so.
- Go to grocery store(s). Purchase normal groceries as necessary, but mainly get holiday items for Christmas dinner.
- Possibly, if there's time and energy, take cardboard boxes to recycling center for recycling.
- Depending on mood and energy, do a fancy-ish carryout or delivery dinner as a special treat for my birthday being tomorrow.
- Take care of cats for the night, wind down, and go to bed as early as possible -- my birthday tomorrow will be a long day.
Saturday, December 20:
- Day off. My birthday. Set alarm for early and make sure Daisy is up, mobile, and coherent by around 7:30 at the latest.
- Shower, dress, and leave the house by 8. Stop for coffee at Amateur Coffee if possible.
- Head down to Shadow Lake and be there as stores start opening for the day at 9.
- Hit up PetSmart, Burlington, Ross, HomeGoods, Torrid, and maybe some others to see what is there and available (i.e., this is my holiday retail fixation in action; I may not get anything, but it is about the experience more than anything else).
- Return to Omaha once we're finished, go to parents' and have birthday dinner (poutine).
- Take birthday photos with Daisy and the family.
- Return home, open whatever present(s) Daisy got for me, and wind down for the evening. Perhaps nap as normal, as Sunday is a normal working day for me.
Sunday, December 21:
- Normal working day for me. Sleep as long as possible, get up, watch the Chiefs lose.
- Maybe begin wrapping presents.
- Daisy may or may not need to do her kitten feeding in the afternoon.
- Decompress and prepare myself for the last two days of work I'll need to do before the holidays.
- Get traditional Christmas photo(s) of me holding Empress in front of our decorative trees if possible.
- Work.
Monday, December 22:
- My last working day until December 30. Sleep as long as possible, get up, work. There are no other plans; with me working this day there can be no other plans.
- Put up OOO at end of the night and set voicemail to business-appropriate "go fuck yourself" message before setting work phone on do not disturb.
Tuesday, December 23:
- Holiday vacation: day one. It starts with sleeping until I am awake.
- Daisy takes the car in to get the EVAP part replaced early in the morning, shortly after I go to bed.
- Begin wrapping Christmas presents for Daisy, her parents, and the family. This is my only real day/evening to get all of this done unless I get any extra time over the weekend prior.
- Finalize any extraneous Christmas Eve/Day plans with Daisy and the family so that we know exactly how the following 48 hours is going to play out, at least as much as possible.
Wednesday, December 24:
- Holiday vacation: day two. Christmas Eve.
- Finish wrapping whatever hasn't been wrapped by this point, because this is the endgame.
- Go to Christmas Eve church service, as long as everyone is willing and not sick. If not, then..
- Return to parents' for finger foods Christmas Eve dinner.
- The kids will probably watch a Christmas movie after dinner to wind down. It will be at this point where I strongly suggest we return home to decompress and get some rest.
- I will likely go to bed early, or at least early enough to try to get some solid, actual rest.
- Daisy will likely be up half the night wrapping presents for me and the parents, as she will always wait until the exact last minute to do so. This is who she is as a person.
Thursday, December 25: Christmas Daaaay!
- Because I know how our nephews are, I would assume we'll both be up early as possible as they'll want us there to open presents with them, and they want to do that at, like, 7am. This is well-known and one of the major drawbacks of Christmases with them in town; both Daisy and I prefer a much more leisurely Christmas experience.
- So, we'll go to the parents' at the asscrack of dawn or as close to it as possible because the kids will not wait no matter what. Daisy may make muffins or something along those lines for breakfast, as is generally tradition.
- Presents and breakfast, followed (likely) by whatever the kids want to do for the day, while the women of the house (and me, if they let me so I can stay occupied) begin prepping the Christmas Day feast.
- We will eat the Christmas Day feast as a family, followed by dessert. Usually about 1/3 of the way into dessert one or more of us quietly gets up to start taking care of the dishes and putting away the food. I usually try to be the first one to start this, just because I can do a lot of it quickly and efficiently and the sooner it is done, the sooner Daisy and I can go home to have our own actual holiday.
- To those ends, there will be a point in the evening hours where we will both be so very ready to return home to the quiet peacefulness of our cats and our own presents for one another, and when I recognize that point I pull the trigger and make sure Daisy is aware it's time to jet. So, we'll say our goodbyes and make our exit.
- We return home and finally, finally get to decompress and open our own presents.
- Very shortly thereafter, we go to bed. Usually.
Plans past Christmas Day are a bit more iffy. I work this coming Sunday and Monday, and Daisy works Monday and Tuesday -- after that, I'm off until the 30th and she is off until after the new year. We don't exactly know how long the family will be in town, but from all accounts they'll be gone before New Year's Eve. That still leaves a several-day-gap in activity times during which those children will need to be kept occupied so that the parents' cats don't maim them or so that they don't destroy their grandparents' house.
Yes, both of those things are concerns, and I'm sure if you have kids or a bunch of nieces and nephews, you understand.
So that's where we stand. I'm sure we'll have some more concrete plans over the course of the next few days, and I'm sure some of these will change.
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