My Christmas List is a To-Do List

Maybe I'll feel differently next year when I have a 10-month-old, but...I am totally not interested in getting a photo of my kid on Santa's lap. Unless one of my friends or relatives dresses up as Santa for a party, I just don't see myself getting that picture. At least not until she's old enough to request a visit to Santa, at which point I suppose if we were there anyway, I'd probably get a picture.

But speaking of Christmas pictures, for Christmas cards next year? I am so looking forward to setting up something fun and silly and snapping a bunch of pics to DIY our own photo cards (and for a much cooler keep-sake than the Santa picture). I'm thinking Baby Girl in nothing but a red diaper and santa hat, playing with a string of white Christmas lights, with some neutral fabric in the background and maybe a couple other non-breakable accessories. Or! Maybe a big pot fashioned to look like a mug, and stick her in there along with a few bags of big marshmallows like she's bathing in hot chocolate! Can a 10-month-old munch on marshmallows (with adult supervision)?

Anyhoo, that's all to come a year from now. This year, I have a huge to-do list of a different sort: this is the last time I'll have multiple days off of work in a row before D Day, so in addition to all the usual Christmas stuff, there's a TON of baby-related stuff I really want to get done between now and January 2nd! And I am SO GLAD I saved up my vacation days so I could have off for 13 days in a row, starting this Wednesday, December 21st! Here's what's on the ol' list:

Monday 12/19 Evening:

• Coat of paint on the dresser


• Lots of laundry, including all the old clothes I plan to make into cloth diapers & cover

Tuesday 12/20 Evening:

• More laundry (see above)


• Clean up & decorate Dining Room table


• Finish decorating tree (just need to hang ornaments)


• Vacuum/sweep/dust once all decorating is done

Wednesday 12/21:

• Tidy/reorganize 2nd bedroom in prep for more storage needs


• Clear out office except for small desk, computer, & printer


• All extra non-baby stuff from 2nd bedroom & office goes to the basement


• Finish up anything still pending from above (more laundry? fold laundry?)

Thursday 12/22:

• Wrapping & other prep for Christmas gifts (this is 5 bullets on my personal list, but I don't want to give anything away!


• Shop for any necessary supplies for baking Christmas cookies tomorrow

Friday 12/23:

• Bake Christmas cookies with Hannah!


• Two more Christmas gift prep items

Christmas Eve 12/24:

• Askey Family Christmas!


• Cooking in the morning?


• Knitting

Christmas Day 12/25:

• Killian Family Christmas!


• More knitting

Monday 12/26:

• Lebanon Christmas Brunch & Pregnant Cousins Pow-Wow!


• More knitting!! (I really need to knit every day to get anywhere near all my knitting done, so just assume this bullet is included in all future days!)


• PREP Christmas Dinner!

Tuesday 12/27:

• Paint the Office Nursery!

Wednesday 12/28:

• Sewing Day - hem curtains, make cloth diapers & diaper covers

Thursdasy 12/29:

• Finish painting nursery (trim, wall stripes?)

Friday 12/30:

• More of whatever still needs to be done (painting? sewing?)


• Finish painting dresser & bookcases in basement

Saturday 12/31:

• More finishing what still needs to be done from previous days


• KNITTING

Sunday 1/1/2012:

• Freak out because it's 2012 already, and because I'm going to have a BABY this year


• Start un-decorating


• More sewing? Start to assemble the nursery?

Monday 1/2/2012:

• Finish un-decorating


• Get house tidy & ready for organized storage of baby stuff

If I can come reasonably close to actually following this list, I will be feeling LOADS better about the prospect of bringing a baby home to our house in (less than?) 2 months. WAY, way better.

Home! It's almost here.

On Monday, Paul and I finished the hardest parts of finishing the living room. The painting is done, the blinds are hung, and the curtain rod is still empty but ready to receive the curtains. The furniture is arranged. In a few days, I'm going to buy this 5'x8' rug to ground the sitting area:

and this TV stand:

so that our new TV can stop living on our coffee table:

(Side note: doesn't President Obama look great on our new TV? I thought so.)

and we can start LIVING in our living room!

Paul needs to hang our clock above the fireplace, and I need to hang photos (LOTS of photos) to warm up those white walls, but that will be a fun process. I have a great idea for a big, asymmetric photo collage on the wall inside the front door. Also might get this 23"x35" Klimt stretched canvas, "The Tree of Life," which also ties right in with the whole color scheme:

On Saturday, we're heading down to Virginia for our friends Sarah and Ginny's wedding shower, and on the way we're going to stop at the Woodbridge Ikea to get another floor lamp to match the one in the picture above. If we see a pair of end tables we like, we might get those too, if the price is right! The shower is at 3:00, somewhere down Rt. 95 below Woodbridge, but we're leaving in the morning so we have time to stop at Lebanese Taverna for lunch before heading to Ikea. Should be a really fun Saturday!

Also, I posted pics of my various favorite babies:

Babies!