Christmas - just around the corner

Christmas ★* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★ Countdown ★ 。* 。only 31 days
°  ° ˚˛˚˛ * __Π____*。*   ˚ to go ......!
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */________/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚｜ 田   田 ｜門｜

I had to use this pictogram, it's way too cute.

Anybody here remembers the days when we used the big mainframes to print knitting or point needle patterns using just lines and Xs and Os? I vividly recall a pull-over I knitted when I was in grade 5 or 6 - it had the most beautiful butterfly and the patter has been printed like the image above, by a family friend, at the computer centre in one of the big plants of the city.

<side note> Back in those days (we are talking cold war here, and one of the Eastern Block countries, one of the closest to Russia too) the 3 plants in the city could be transformed in a blink: from making pants into making uniforms, from making bridge parts into making rocket parts (yes, they actually built them) and from making auto parts into making tanks. In high-school we had periods of couple of weeks every 2-3 months when we will go and work in those plants ('volunteer' work, of course) and my friends whose parents were working there (1/3 of the city was working there, of course) would get a ride on a tank (no, I am not kidding). </end of side note>

Side note aside - It is quite frightening: we have just one month and a bit over 4 weeks until Christmas - which also means... the year is over. Have you started to decorate? I haven't and the next 2 weeks are quite busy... which means I will have less than 3 weeks to focus on decorations. Plus making all the gifts I want to make. Plus baking (and that's not my strength to start with anyhow!). Plus...

I could be stressed out, I think. But there is no point in doing that. Time will pass no matter if I worry about it. So I will instead focusing on how to make the most out of the Holidays.

First of all - by smiling and keeping a low-stress profile around the house (harder to do with DH, he's the one that needs more calming than anyone in the household). Filling the house with carols: both traditional and North-American. Playing them on the piano as a family is always fun - and we do that more as the holiday approaches. Cleaning the house went low on my list - I do a decent job, but I don't go to the extremes I used to (like cleaning the grout in between the kitchen tiles - seriously?! they look nice when clean... but it keeps for less than a week :) neah, I have better things to do with my time). I will have to get the card making supplies out soon; and the decoration making supplies too.

So: deep breath... in... out... and off I go - tackling the to-do list of today.