Friday Five: Countdown to Christmas

Songbird had the Friday Five yesterday. One thing I've noticed is that as a parent, I get more done when it's NOT a snow day: we spent most of yesterday managing kids instead of relaxing and taking it easy. And the parental weirdness continues... By the by, I swear that every time I navigate away from this page the spacing between paragraphs gets larger. Sometimes Blogger does some crazy formatting stuff...

It's true.

There are only five full days before Christmas Day, and whether you use them for shopping, wrapping, preaching, worshiping, singing or traveling or even wishing the whole darn thing were over last Tuesday, there's a good chance they will be busy ones.

So let's make this easy, if we can: tell us five things you need to accomplish before Christmas Eve.

Let me start by confessing that we have sucked at Christmas the last couple of years. In 2007, we were preparing to move and chasing an 11 month-old around the house. So, no tree, and the holiday photocards we ordered from Snapfish sat around our old house and our new one until we threw them out sometime in March. This year, again, no tree, though I don't feel bad about it because I'd rather spend December doing pretty much anything BUT chase two girls away from the tree all day long. So, the goal this year? Don't suck so much. Thankfully, that sets the bar pretty low.

1. Write the Christmas letter and send the cards to our friends and family.

2. Get Kristin's present (going to do that this afternoon - I know what I'm getting her, I just need to buy it locally so as to save on shipping).

3. Start working on 2008 Taxes (because I WILL NOT file an extension for a third straight year)

4. Enjoy the start of the college football bowl season (please, God, let there be some decent games - January through August is the longest time of the year!)

5. Continue to enjoy a remarkably angst-free Advent. Thankfully, it appears that the Society for the Preservation of Advent finds its work much less demanding in the midst of an economic downturn.

Bonus "to-do" item: maintain a good sense of humor - it makes everything else so much more enjoyable. Thus, I give you the following cartoon: