Countdown to Christmas 2024…Day 23

Here are some scenes from the last 24 hours in the Countdown. 

I realized that Mr. Clause has been doing some extra shopping. So after the one holiday party I was invited to was over yesterday, we headed to the mall. I decided Sweet Caroline had a deficit and I got the bright idea for a gift. In the shoe department, we stood and deliberated together over a couple of pairs of potential boots for our fashionista. 

Thankfully she doesn’t read the blog so she will still be surprised. The two we decided on were not in stock. This meant I had to call another store near where they live and order them gift wrapped and shelved until someone can pick them up today. 

While I ordered, Russ joked with two of the sales associates we know. It was fun and even though I wished I had thought of it days ago, we both kind of enjoyed sitting on the couches and being razzed in a jovial way for “loitering.”

We ran some more errands and headed home. I got the counter cleared off of a stack of papers that ended up all being recycling fodder. Why, oh why, do I put useless things in a pile that are just going to end up in the trash? 

I blame my mother. She can’t defend herself and would admit she was the same, so all is well.

After that I finalized the menu for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, I finished painting the ornaments and did a happy dance that the prints I ordered fit the frames. 

I hope someday they pull these out and see the years of change and remember how much they were loved.

We are on the downhill stretch friends. 

Today is cleaning, food prep and trying to quiet that still small voice that is whispering all the things I had planned that will not happen. 

It is enough. 

What we have done to prepare is enough.

Every gift, every morsel of food, every snowman tucked in a cabinet just so, was all done to show my family how much I love them. 

Thankfully I know they know. 

They know they are the world to me. 

Even if my efforts fall short of the expectations, they know.

Blessings on you as you finish your own loving tasks. 

You, also, are dearly loved <3