The day after New Year's we "undecorated" the house.
The tree was untrimmed, all Christmas wreaths taken down, the lights unwrapped from around the bushes and deck railing. The ribbon, lights and bow came off the mailbox, the Christmas CD's were gathered, and all other miscellaneous decorations were collected and placed in the living room.
Then I started the tedious task of packing the Christmas boxes. Surprise! We have two boxes more than what we started with...okay, we did buy some stuff on clearance after Christmas. The more we have to decorate the house with next year!
When everything was packed, Jim took the tree outside to be dropped off at the recycling site, and I cleaned up the mountain of pine needles left behind. It is a small price to pay for having the joy of picking out a tree, that first scent of "Christmas" filling the car and house, and Hootie would not be able to have his favorite treat this time of the year: Christmas tree water! (now he's back to toilet bowl water...)
After the last box was put away in the garage, I sat down on the sofa and sighed...I missed our tree! I missed the Christmas decorations! Even the mailbox looked bald!
I guess I was not quite ready to say goodbye to Christmas yet.
But I had to, because I needed to start planning for a big birthday party coming up!
Kaitlyn has been planning this for months and she started crossing off days on the calendar, now that we flipped the page to the first month of the new year.
I sighed once more and got up to get a piece of paper to compile a list (I LOVE lists) of things to buy for the party.
Kaitlyn already knows she is getting a puppy. After changing her mind a few times she now settled on a German Shepherd. She may change her mind a few more times, but one thing that is constant is that the puppy needs to be a girl. She definitely does not want another boy in the house! If she would have had a choice, she would have had a baby sister. Don't get me wrong, she LOVES her little brother and delights in the fact that he lights up like a 1000 watt light bulb the instant he sees her. She simply would have preferred a girl, that's all.
So, we know the puppy will have to be female.
Basically her presents are easy this year. The challenge is the theme she chose:
a "Flying unicorn sleepover" party -
We have already decided on who gets to come for the sleepover. We have agreed on 3 girls. Now all we need to make sure of, is that the girls will be able to come. I know that one of them has her birthday the day I planned to have Kaitlyn's party (her birthday is on a Friday, and I was planning for the sleepover on Saturday)
So Kaitlyn already picked a "replacement". I will have to contact the girls' parents and try to figure out what works for all of them (we might do an "almost" sleepover), check if anyone has any allergies, then work out a menu.
Now, for the most difficult part: the decorations! You might think I am exaggerating here, but KK knows EXACTLY what she wants and how she wants it.
Well, at least I still have a few weeks to buy white posterboard, draw a "flying unicorn" exactly the way she wants it, and then make 2 more like it - I pray I don't have to paint them.
January promises to be not as relaxing as I was hoping for! I don't think I will be bored anytime soon, but then again the last time that occurred was...I cannot even remember!
I am guessing pre-children era?
