He’s making a list
And checking it twice;
Gonna find out Who’s naughty and nice
Santa Claus is coming to town! 

Yes, the jolly old elf is a list maker and so am I! My friends tease me about my many lists but I don’t think I could live without them! I have a Christmas To Do list on my computer that I print off and post on the front of the fridge every year. Just in case you don’t have one of your own, here’s an annotated version of mine. The check marks indicate the things that I’ve already accomplished and those things that are crossed out, I don’t have to do this year because we’re going to be at our daughter’s for Christmas.

Christmas shoebox:  (for our sponsored child in Haiti)

• fill  √
• mail  √

Sadly, after paying Canada Post more than $27 to mail this to the collection point in Florida, we’ve made the difficult decision not to do this in the future. Instead, we can pay New Missions, the small organization that we sponsor through, $45 to fill a box for us. It will be less personal but with the money we save on postage, we’ll be able to fill a Samaritan’s Purse shoebox for a second needy child.

Shopping:

• gifts  √
• stocking stuffers  √
• cards  √
• wrapping paper  √
• ribbon, bows  √
• tags  √
• Christmas crackers  √
• tree

Until last year, we always bought a real tree but now that we’re spending two Christmases out of three in our children’s homes, we have an artificial tabletop tree for those years when we aren’t going to be home.

Wrap gifts

Mail gifts

We did all our shopping for the Vancouver portion of the family while we were at the coast recently. The gifts were bought, wrapped and delivered before we came home so there are none to mail this year. Haha! Canada Post loses this time!

Baking:

• shortbread
• nuts & bolts
• butter tarts
• macaroons
• antipasto

I usually make other goodies as well but Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas at our house without these old standbys. I make the shortbread and the nuts and bolts using the same recipes that my mother used when I was a little girl. The antipasto is a favourite amongst our friends so I’ve increased the amount that I make over the years and several bottles are given as gifts. I haven’t done any baking yet this year but I did buy all the ingredients today. That must count for something!

Christmas cards:

• write Christmas letter  √
• print Christmas letter
• address envelopes
• write cards
• mail

Oh darn, Canada Post wins again!

Decorate house

I put out the olive wood nativity set that my parents sent us from Jerusalem the year they spent Christmas there more than a week ago. That’s always the first decoration to come out of storage and although we have many boxes filled with others, it’s really the only one we’d need. After all, it represents what Christmas is really all about.

Take out Christmas mugs & glasses

As retired teachers, we have lots of these received as gifts from our students over the years.

Decorate tree

Buy turkey  √

Crossed out and checked off? How can that be? Well, I don’t have to provide this year’s turkey but I always like to have one in the freezer. We used the last one at Thanksgiving and they were on sale today so I picked up a smallish one to have on hand.

Plan menus

As you can see, I have lots to do over the next couple of weeks! How about you?

Of course, since we’re going away for Christmas, I’ve also started a packing list. I’ll have to remember to add the ski pants that I picked up at the local thrift store this afternoon for just $2, bought especially for playing in the snow with the grandchildren!

On an entirely different note, I received a notification from WordPress this afternoon reminding me that today is my blog’s 5th anniversary! Happy Birthday, Following Augustine! I think I’ll go pour myself a glass of wine to celebrate.