A Very Nesty Christmas - Me, Panic?

Hello, Everyone!  It's 1:41 AM here in Kitimat, British Columbia, and I'm up!  Why, you may ask?  Well, it's the most wonderful time of the year, and I've reached the point where there seems to be more items going on my "To-Do" list than coming off.  

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Hm, sorry, what's that?  Sorry, I was nodding off dreaming of sitting by the Christmas tree with everything finished to perfection, sipping a glass of Baileys and basking in the glow of a job well planned, well executed, well done.  This fantasy, if it ever comes to fruition, will have to wait until next year, as I feel I may have slid past the point of being able to honestly claim I planned well.  The biggest enemies to my Big Ideas are 1. Delusions of Grandeur and 2. Mailing Deadlines.

The celebratory Delusions of Grandeur, well, any aspiring Martha will understand.  I have yet to perfect the timing of my visions.  For example, I decided to decorate my kitchen in a "Cookies & Gnomes" theme.  When it was pointed out to me that perhaps summertime would have been a good time to purchase gnomes (some foolishness about garden centers and end of season sales...) I explained that I didn't think of the theme until November.  Does nobody appreciate my genius???

And Mailing Deadlines...sigh.  For many, many years I was lucky enough to have all my gift recipients within driving distance, so we never had to mail a thing.  Last year was the first year we had to mail gifts, and - it did not end well.  After paying an exorbitant amount to an organization that will remain unnamed, and receiving their guarantee that, in exchange for said exorbitant amount my parcels would arrive well in advance of the holidays, they in fact did not.  They arrived well after, and having the exorbitant amount refunded to me in the New Year did not quite make up for the disappointment of not getting our gifts home on time.

But, I'm getting better.  My current state of panic is being calmed by contingency plans.  One of my Big Ideas of Delusional Grandeur this year was to make a lot of homemade gifts, and I did great.  However, the last few are dragging their feet coming across the finish line, which brings up my old friend MAILING DEADLINES!!  And that, my friends, is why courier services were invented.  For a fee (exorbitant perhaps, but I'll pay for reliability) I can actually BUY TIME!!!  It's like a miracle!!!

The great news is that once the gifts go off with the miraculous courier service this week, I'm back on track and only have to do "my" projects.  Baking, crafting, and more decorating are all on deck, as well as planning for our Christmas Party and Christmas dinner.  However, there is nothing on that list that will send me into a panic if it doesn't get achieved to the extent of my glorious visions.  Baking, crafting, decorating?  What gets done, gets done.  The party will go ahead whether I manage to carve an ice sculpture of my dogs (tee hee!) and roast a swan,  or if I just remove the dog hair from the furniture and open a few bags of chips (I was never a big fan of swan, anyway...)  And Christmas Dinner is safe in the freezer, so even if the clouds open up and it snows until New Year's, we'll have plenty of good stuff to share on Christmas Day!  

Me, panic?  No way!!!  

How about you?  Share in the comments...if you can spare the time!!!!!