Are You Jingling Yet?

Costco seemed to have passed over a couple of holidays as I'm already seeing Christmas trees lit up in their store! Nevertheless, my favorite month, October, will soon arrive.

The hot apple cider, roasted pumpkin seeds, jack-o-lanterns aglow, cool mornings, sweaters and jeans, and lots and lots of baking.

Of course there is the craziness of stores marketing their holiday gear, but within our little nook we have the simplicity of the holidays. There's also the fact that I'll be turning 36 this month, but I like even numbers over odd. And then there's the hundreds of trick-or-treaters we get, some of whom are adults wearing no costumes and with no kids in tow.

But who doesn't love this time of year! The hustle and bustle and the merry jingle in our footsteps.

So here's how I'm preparing for the holiday season...

1. Stop the flood of catalogs. When we moved to our new home, we received literally hundreds of catalogs in the mail over the course of the first year. I finally found a way to stop them coming once and for all: Catalog Choice! A must for the holidays!

2. Beat the holiday bulge. I'm working on losing 10% of my body weight mainly for the health benefits but also because if I do so I win a prize from an awesome health company!

3. Opting for Halloween toys. Seeing as how we still have bags of Halloween candy leftover from last year that my daughters never ate, this year we ordered a variety of nicknacks and toys from Oriental Trading to hand out to trick or treaters.

4. A Minnesota winter. Last year we were running through the sprinklers in December, so we're hoping to see a bit of snow this year when we visit my mom.

5. Sorting and giving away. It's time I go through my youngest closet, sifting through her clothes. Giving away the 12 month, even the 18 month clothes. When did my baby get to be a toddler?

6. Baking. It never ends. With Russian tea cakes, Grandma's jam thumbprints, cyclops, sugar cookies, gingerbread men, Swedish meatballs, date bars, monkey faces, chocolate dipped pretzels, cornflake wreaths, peppermint bark...

7. Card writing. Families keep growing. Friends become dearer. And my list keeps getting longer. Will the USPS raise the price of stamps to 50 cents before the holiday? I've run out of the Forever stamps I bought years ago.

8. Holiday shopping. I'm going to try harder this year. Last Christmas morning it took us hours to open all of the presents. We don't need more stuff. Maybe, just maybe, we could all simply make a gift for each other this year. Or next?

9. The big move. Our time here on the west coast is quickly coming to an end and we will be moving in the spring. Our to do list is huge: new carpet thanks to our puppy, painting the house, giving the landscaping a tune up, collecting things for Amvets before we move, finding a new home, researching the schools and selecting the best one, putting the house on the market, and filing the paperwork with the moving company.

10. Saying good-bye. We've never lived in a place for more than 18 months or so, and here we've had over three years in our home. This will be our last holiday season with friends and neighbors. Our girls will have to say bye to friends. Our dog will leave the only home she's ever known. No longer will we have the luxury of having a swimming pool next to our house. I'll miss the year-round 70 degree days. And I'll miss our friends, our church, our community.