Say it ain't so.....

I am not in full blown panic mode yet, but I just realized that it is only 23 days until Christmas. Now that sounds like plenty of time to get everything done.....NOT!

I don't know how I have managed to have such a heavy calendar this year. Out of the next 23 days, 11 of them are already booked with "things to do". Saturdays are for shopping and Sundays are for church so I have to rule those out as possible days for getting anything accomplished.

During the next 23 days, I have to find time to bake the cookies for the Ladies Night Out, fix a dessert and pasta salad for the Sunday School class dinner, wrap all the gifts I buy (some already bought), make the desserts for the family and friends gifts, make the desserts for our holiday, make 2 different birthday cakes or cookies for the twins (they pick what they each want).

And during this madness, I still have a full-time job to do and a Christmas tree to decorate.

And that is another sore subject today....The Christmas Tree

I love my 7' Martha Stewart Pre-lit tree. It's nice and full and tall and perfect.....until this year. We put it up two days ago so it could "fall out" before we shaped it. The trouble with pre-lit trees is that it doesn't always light. We had a major battle getting all the plug-ins lined up in the right order so we could start decorating. No matter what we tried, one whole side section on the bottom 3 limbs did not light. We decided to worry about it the next day. So we get up yesterday, turn it on to work on it and WAH LAH - they all worked. Yay!! But I had a busy day and decided to wait and decorate this morning.

Well, guess what? When I turned it on this morning, the top section doesn't light now. There has got to be a short somewhere, which means I will not be using the pre-lit section. Now, I'm torn. Do I bite the bullet and buy a new tree or do I buy lights for this one. And if I buy lights, do I get the miniature or the old fashioned bulbs like we had when I was little (the C7's). But then, I hate to invest $ in the amount of lights I would need, when after the holidays, I'll pitch this one and buy a new one for next year. But THEN, I thought, OOO, if I have to buy lights this year anyways, why don't I head over to one of the stores that has REAL trees for $30 and just get a real tree one last time and buy lights for it.

Of course, my mind has had all these random thoughts this morning while hubby is not here. Once he gets home, I'll run my ideas by him. Of course, he'll say it's up to me, and I do like to let him at least THINK he's in charge once in awhile. But not at Christmas. So I'll wage a battle with myself this morning and let you know tomorrow which direction I go.