Living in CHAOS

Marla Cilley, aka FLYLady, the organising guru writes about those people who are Living in CHAOS,  where that is an acronym for "Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome" - but this year, in this house, I think it stands for Christmas Has Approached On Skates!

There are less than ten days to go

I have never been this ill-prepared for the festive season. I am struggling to work out why. I think that somewhere along the line I decided I was retired and not so busy. There was no rush...So I did not need to make lists and check things off as I did in previous years

This was clearly a mistake. I have been busy but in different ways - and also I do not have quite as much energy as I used to, so I have to accept that I cannot cram the days quite as full as I did when I was 35.

The spare bed is covered with stuff - paper flowers and equipment from last week's workshop; unsold stock from the Christmas Fair; wrapping paper leftover from the Pass the Parcels; gifts waiting to be wrapped. I think that there were so many things needing to be done in the past fortnight that I just got through each day, but never cleared-up-and-put-away properly. That will get done this afternoon.

For years I sat down every January, and recycled my old Christmas cards into new ones for the next year. 

And we sent out 100+ [about half hand delivered locally , half posted] For a few years now we have not done this. I've posted cards to elderly friends and relations, hand delivered to all my neighbours here in the close, and sent a blanket greeting on social media to everyone else - and the money saved has gone to charity. This year  it has been the Guardian Refugee Appeal
But my old box from the loft, in use for over 20 years, still had a couple of dozen handmade cards in it. Enough for this year. Top Tip if you are using an assortment of cards, begin by matching every one to its envelope before you write anything! They shuffle themselves in the box and if you are not careful you end up trimming the side of the last stable scene to fit the only envelope vaguely big enough!

I am being diligent about reusing wrapping materials I needed cardboard envelopes for some packages. I dismantled cereal packets, turned them inside out, and stuck them together again, blank side out. Kezzie was very impressed! There are folk who buy new Jiffy Bags, but I am not one of them. Kirsten is the Queen of recycled Graze Boxes [which fit through the Large Letter Slot, so cost less to post]

Although I pack things carefully at the end of the season, and all decorations go into labelled boxes into the loft, some things eventually wear out. 

My jaunty reindeer antlers can now do the splits in true Angela Rippon style. 

Sadly they cannot stand up again. This rather disappointed Rosie last weekend. I will see if they can be stitched back up - but if not, they'll be leaving with the bin men on Tuesday.

It is not all gloom and doom. The cake is made and ready to be marzipanned. I did an Iceland shop [10% OAP discount] with Bob on Tuesday morning and got quite a few bits and pieces for the forthcoming family visits. Fresh stuff will be purchased late next week.

The Nativity Scene outside is there to remind us all of the true Reason for the Season. 

I do hope your Christmas Preparations are not too fraught.