Pushing the Panic Button

Yes, it's that time of year again. The race to be ready!
Here on the grove, it's a little busier as we will be hosting the annual Christmas dinner on the 25th. For the first time, niece Hilary and her hubby and two kids, aged five and seven will be in town at Christmas. Since we have a slightly larger dining area, the gang will come here instead of gathering at my sister's.

For me, it's rather a nice change, as I love to make the meat and potatoes part of the meal, and um, yes the hors d'oeuvres. I don't make desserts well, so fortunately, my sister has graciously offered to bring the sweets. I have all the food shopping done and the menu is ready. I've made whatever could be made ahead of time, so no worries there. It's just that part of having all the meal elements ready at the same time that gets to me. I really am not that great at doing big birds in the oven, so will have to rely on the meat thermometer and peoples' patience so that it all gets to the table in a relatively warm way.

As far as gifts wrapped and decorations done, I have completed nearly all I intend to do. Regarding party-type events, I have a few things up my sleeve, and of course one can always count on the impromptu actions of the little ones to help the festivities remain joyous and we'll have cameras ready for those unexpected moments of frivolity. We may even have some highly original organ music (they'll PLAY) to accompany any of us who feels like singing carols. Pushing the right keys on the Hammond is not important...they'll have the beat tho!

As for pushing panic buttons, I am really no more concerned with that than I am with the little ones hitting the right notes. What's the point. It will all come together and if there are a few bits that are a little fragmented it's no big deal. I have the worrying department all taken care of. I have this little polymer clay thing I made a couple of years ago as the result of a workshop I took. It was at a very "down" time. I kept the thing in my pocket for weeks, rubbing it and pressing on the button from time to time, whenever I felt stressed, or something around me was "out of control". I called it my panic button and maybe it was just the "action" of pressing it, but it helped me to realize that pushing it got about the same results as going into a wild panic would.