'Tis the Season.

I woke up this morning (all to early, of course) to snow flurries. It's been cold lately, and it was bitterly cold yesterday. The imminence of the holiday season has been upon us since Halloween, and now it's here! For the record, I LOVE Christmas. I love everything about it. The excess, the twinkling lights, the shopping, the music, the commercials, the get-out-the-Christmas-crap and decorate...I LOVE IT ALL.

This will be our first Christmas in our first house. In any other universe, I would have had all my decorations out by now. In the universe I currently reside, we are neck deep in basement finishing. While this may seem like it should have no effect on decking the halls, that is not the case. Until the basement gets done, I can't place all my furniture. Currently, the sofa purchased for the living room is still in its industrial plastic wrap, on its side, in the dining room. I can't fix my dining room up (with my new holiday table runner and centerpiece) until the sofa gets moved out. The sofa won't get moved out until the basement is finished, because in the basement will go the big sectional that's currently occupying the space for the new sofa. And the list goes on and on. It's kind of like a ripple effect.

So. In boxes my Christmas crap will remain. Today, we're putting the first coat of color on the finished walls of the basement. The flooring and cabinets for the dry bar will arrive on December 8. While we wait for the flooring and cabinets to arrive, we will:

1. Finish the painting.

2. Frame out the glass block windows, and the window facing the porch.

3. Install the ceiling mounted tiles (small portion of the ceiling for which we could not drywall).

4. Prep, sand and paint the stairs.

Oh, and maybe even install the thresholds for the kitchen. Yeah, the kitchen. Somehow this has been overlooked and needs to get done.

This all to be accomplished before December 22. D-Day. When Mom and Dad arrive to spend Christmas with us.