I had today all mapped out. First we were going to wrap up the presents to be mailed, and then drop them at the post office on the way out of town. Off we’d go to do our bi-monthly trip to CostCo, to stock up on huge bags of rice for the various food drives we’re involved in, with a brief detour by Michael’s, because they had a great sale on yarn – yarn that would be perfect for those three blankets I must complete by April (for gifts). Then we were going to hit a few other places including possibly somewhere where we could each get some new shoes because my sneakers have holes in the sides, and then we’d go off to the tree farm and cut down our tree, come home, and spend the rest of the day decorating.

This was all, of course, before my sinuses decided to throw a wrench in the whole thing. The pressure started building just about the time we headed off to mail presents, and continued rather quickly as we headed down the freeway. By the time we reached Micheal’s I was feeling pretty horrible, so after I picked out yarn and staggered back to the car we gave up on all the rest of the plans and went back home.

A few hours later, once my stomach had calmed down enough to take some decongestants, I was feeling better. But by then there wasn’t enough time to get everything done we’d planned. So instead we went to Costco, picking up lots of things we probably didn’t need (because that is the magic of Costco) and on the way home we hit the fabric store because yarn was on sale there too, and then we came home and decided that if we couldn’t get our tree, at least we could get started with the rest of the decorating.

The goofy penguin windsock is now hanging outside by the front porch. Richard set up the lit garland on the mantel and arranged our various Christmas bears and snowmen and moose around the downstairs. I dragged out all the Christmas placemats and napkin rings and set them around the dining room table, and put my Edie Walker nativity scene on the piano, where I am hoping that the cats cannot get to it. The trio of nutcrackers were set up on our gorgeous new sofa table, along with the silly little clay goose my mom-in-law got me a year or so ago, which comes with holiday hats (in honor of the season it is wearing its santa hat). And once the decorations were out, we settled on the sofa with stacks of Christmas cards and a movie in the DVD player (Ella Enchanted, which was sweet and delightful and which I highly recommend to anyone, even though my boyfriend Cary Elwes plays a very bad man), and addressed the first round of holiday cards. Maybe it wasn’t everything I”d hoped to get accomplished today, but it was at least a very good start.