Front Porch Friday

So it's that time of year....where I have multiple lists started to try and declutter my mind. I tell myself that I WILL get it all done. I'll find the perfect, most thoughtful gift for all 23 people on my Christmas gift list. I'll have everything organized for the 3 different places that I go over a 24 hour span of time during Christmas Eve/Day so I won't forget my grandmother's gift like I did last year. I'll have the above mentioned 22 perfect gifts wrapped all pretty with some sort of cutesy embellishment on the bow...you know, go the extra mile.

{Photo from MarthaStewart.com}

I'll bake some awesome Paula Deen recipe for the office, and two other holiday parties so they don't miss out on some sort of delicious southern holiday treat. I'll have some thoughtful and merry blog posts ready to go. I'll have neatly ironed clothes and outfits picked out for every day I'm gone. I'll make the perfect playlist for my long drive home. I'll have snacks and drinks packed to limit the stops.

I'll have the oil changed, car washed, bags packed, house clean, and plans made for the time I'll be home this year. Lunches with old friends, family dinners, a few good movies...everything evenly planned out. Maybe I'll have time to make this adorable wreath that I LOVE.

{Photo from Better Homes and Garden}

I'll do all of this while trying to spend every free second I have left with a dear friend before she leaves for a whole year.

Yeah, right. It never, ever happens. I usually end up leaving the few gifts I did buy in the bags they came in from the store- I can wrap when I get to my mom's. I'll have to finish shopping when I get there. I decide to wait and get the oil changed at home- it's cheaper anyway. And who needs a clean car? It's just going to look like a bug graveyard by the time I get to SC anyway.

I throw whatever clean clothes I have in a suitcase- everyone I stay with will have an iron. Or the more likely outcome....Ashley will dress me in her clothes anyway so just make sure you have the basics. There's no way I can fit my size 6 foot in her size 9 shoes, so shoes are essential.

I usually end up scrambling around, leaving the hair straighter at my dad's when I need it at my mom's. And I never end up having enough time for everyone. Any chance this year will be different?

I have the best of intentions to make the most of my time at home. This year WILL be a little different though. I have two whole weeks to see everyone. So this is the point you tell me to calm down and prioritize. And this is the point that I see this video on one of my regular blog reads, A Thorne Among Roses, and nothing I said above even matters anymore.




And now is when I rip up the list, donate some money instead of buying gifts, laugh off the awkwardness that an office holiday party brings this afternoon, and have a blast at Shira's going away party tonight.