Time’s Ticking

By my reckoning there’s about 42 days until Christmas now, which frankly is quite scary. The year has flown by and I don’t expect these last few weeks to go any slower. In the last few minutes I was thinking and suddenly realised just how much stuff I have to get done before then, and there’s quite a lot to get through!

• Present shopping. For the most part I cheat really, I hate the stress of getting into town on a busy Saturday, eventually finding a parking space, and then wading through throngs of rude, impatient idiots hoarding junk at bargain prices. So I tend to do whatever I can online, in one day, in a nice relaxed headspace with a warm drink and relaxing music. Far, far more sensible if you ask me.
• Illuminations. I’m not one for making my house look as tacky as possible by buying B&Q out of Santa and Reindeer rope-light silhouettes, in fact I barely light the exterior at all, maybe just a few tasteful lights. If I was going to do something outside it’d have to be of National Lampoon proportions. Instead, I prefer to light my living space, and this is where I have been known to go a little ‘eccentric’ before. I like to make the living room warm, cosy and bright and cheery, and over the last few years a few of my sets of lights have bitten the dust so I think I’ll be investing in some new ones this year. I cannot wait!
• Birthday. Mrs AdamR has her birthday in a couple of weeks so I’m plotting furiously. This one could be tricky, but I’ll have a good go!
• Grading. My grading for 4th Gup is in just about 3 weeks now. It’s snuck up on me and I’m refusing to think about it yet. I don’t want to imagine the new levels of pain and exhaustion to be visited upon me, or how many ways I could get Pyung Ahn Sam Dan wrong, or how I could mess up my awkward new Il Soo Sik Dae Ryun. Expect stress-related posts just before it’s due.
• Cooking. I like cooking, and there are several things I love to make each year at this time. I don’t think a festive batch of home brew will be happening in 2007, which is sad because it’s really satisfying and makes good presents. But I will be doing some of my favourites, primarily stollen. I love stollen, and make it with really good marzipan or almond paste, my mouth’s watering just thinking about it! I also make my own (largely alcoholic) chocolate truffles. It’s stupidly simple to do and tastes amazing. I think I’ll be churning out some mince pies too. I never grow tired of mince pies :).

There’s a ton of other stuff, but that’s what springs to mind most at the moment. It’s chaotic, hectic and often stressful, but the two week break once it happens and the associated relaxation is more than worth it.