Christmas Prep Done!

I think I am actually done, though I suppose I will get my wife an e-gift card.  I had temporarily forgotten that I had already bought Xmas cards at a dollar store, so that is checked off as well.

We don't have a lot of presents to exchange, but I did wrap them up last night.  There are a couple of presents to myself (books naturally...), and I went ahead and wrapped those as well, which I don't typically do.

I got the stocking stuffers on Monday, and I believe the last of the presents arrived in the mail on Sunday(!), though we may get a delayed package from my step-mom. 

The biggest difference is we didn't put up a tree because we were so sure the cats would mess around with it and knock it over.  However, I was in the basement looking for a few things to put out (no wooden nutcrackers, which they would chew to pieces!) and I came across some mini trees we used to put in the kids' rooms.  We put one of those out by the fireplace.  While the cats have definitely been messing with the ornaments, they have mostly left it alone, giving us some hope that next year we can put up the full tree (after the cats are out of their kitten phase).

 

 

Now I just need to turn this picture into a holiday card and send it around to everyone, and my holiday prep is in the books for 2025.  Happy holidays to anyone who has been following along on the blog.  A lot more to follow when I have some downtime later in the week...

 

Edit (12/25): I did manage to get the e-card out to a long list of friends (and former friends?) and former work colleagues.  I have to admit that the number of cards and e-cards I get from others is close to zero, and I often wonder if it is worth sending these around any longer.  On the other hand, the level of effort is relatively minimal once I have made the card, and this year I was particularly efficient.  And I was somewhat enthused to send around word that we added the kittens to the household.

 

It snowed on Monday, but nearly all of it is gone, so it isn't really a white Christmas after all.  I actually biked off to work on Wed., and I am seriously considering biking to Carlton to see Tokyo Godfathers.  It turns out that the version with subtitles is only playing once today at 6:55, so I will have to keep myself occupied with other things in the meantime.  Fortunately, I have a long list of things I have been putting off, including working on my year-end lists...