Everything is under construction...I mean under control

Don't you love this time of year; the Christmas decorations, beautifully lit Christmas tree filled with ornaments-each a reminder of the giver or special purpose for purchase, Christmas carols fill the home and the scent of freshly baked goods fill each nook and cranny of your humble abode? So do I. Ok, so this year I'm (once again) learning to be patient. I wish I could show you this picture of our beautiful Christmas tree and wax poetic about the wonderful time we had decorating our tree last week to herald the Christmas season. In reality, this beautiful Christmas tree graced our home...last year. It is a fond reminder of the evening Casey proposed marriage to our daughter, Ashley. What special memories! However, this year, with not even two weeks until the day we celebrate our Lord's birth...our tree along with every decoration we own is still carefully packed away, awaiting liberation from the dark hiding place we call "the holiday closet". I guess maybe posting a picture of last year's tree is my attempt to remind myself that patience IS a virtue and maybe this will be the week we can transform our home into the "Christmas wonderland" that we have grown to expect and enjoy during the month of December. Since purchasing our first home back in 1979, Brad and I have always had some kind of "house project" going on in the background, weaving it's way in and around life on a fairly regular basis. To be honest, I grew up this way so it is not a new concept for me. In fact, in my family, it is a joke to see who is painting the week before any major holiday. Nothing like a holiday or "event" to motivate us to complete any unfinished project lurking around. And trust me...there's ALWAYS at least one...it's in our blood! Whereas I used to find great humor in this "joke", I am thinking this year the amusement aspect may be wearing a little thin. I'm afraid my current view is that it's a good hobby...gone bad. ;-) It may be time to find another way to invest our time and money, a less stressful hobby! Among other things, we added a family room on to the back of our home over a year ago. We hired a builder to do the work up to the point of finishing the sheetrock and Brad and I took over from there last December. The next four months were a flurry of planning a wedding (bride was out of town), painting, laying a tile floor, planning a wedding, painting, laying a wood floor, painting, even shipping my parents in to help...and did I mention planning a wedding??? Did I also mention hosting a Wedding Rehearsal Dinner for 50+ people in our (still under construction) home the night before the wedding? The wedding, April 29th was a simply wonderful occasion of celebration and we are thrilled to have Casey as the newest member of our family! The next five months neither Brad nor I could even bear to look at a paint brush or think about finishing up the wood trim and other odd jobs abandoned in lieu of wedding festivities. We avoided working on the house like the plague. Brad, however, pulled together his grit before I did and resumed doing odd jobs a few months back. He has even been able to use some left over vacation days to advance the cause in hopes of moving in to our new family room in time for our Christmas morning celebration. He has been working hard! Although we are still living in a construction zone...we ARE making progress towards the goal!! I am trying to keep emotions under "control" and just "do the next thing". I am hoping that in the next few days I will be able to start pulling out a few Christmas decorations here and there and prepare for a special time of celebrating Christ and family togetherness. All of our "kids" will be home for Christmas this year and we're REALLY looking forward to it! Ok...so we have hammers, sanders, saws, nail guns and paint cans where snowmen, angels and nativity sets should be....but we'll get there..if not sooner-then later! I keep telling myself that one year I'm going to have gifts purchased and wrapped, decorations out, freezer and pantry stocked and nothing left to do except to focus on friends and family...all by December 1st. :-) Until then...pass me the paint brush...please.