Quick Takes Friday, vol. 12

Today is the beginning of a two-week break from work for me! No vacation time required; it’s all holiday and bonus days given to us by the University. So excited!! Here are seven things I plan on doing during my vacation.

~1~

Christmas Shopping. First and foremost, the Christmas shopping has to get done and a few packages have to be mailed off to people who don’t live close (two nieces, a godson, a “secret saint” gift). I’m looking forward to going shopping in the morning when the stores open instead of fighting crowds after work or on weekends. Yay!!

~2~

Daily Mass and maybe Reconciliation. Daily Mass is something I used to do before I got married and I lived closer to our church. Now, I just can’t get there and trying to go to the noon mass on campus just hasn’t worked out for me. I am planning on attending the evening mass this coming Monday and I hope to attend a few more. How nice it’ll be to go to daily Mass and not be thinking about anything else! And as for Reconciliation, well, it’s just been a while. I find it hard to get to unless I’m not working. So I should probably take advantage of the fact that I’m not working this week and go.

~3~

Put away the wedding dress. Yes, I’ve been married for over three years now and the wedding dress is taking up mucho space in one of our few closets. Storage space in our house is at a premium!! So next week, I plan on finally taking it to a bridal shop for them to send out to be dry-cleaned and preserved. It’ll be nice to have it in a more manageable box.

~4~

Clean the house!! Oh man, does my house need it. After working all day, doing errands on weekends, and trying to keep some semblance of a social life, I am just too tired to clean the house. One day I will ask for a maid to come in once a year to clean things like blinds and other hard to clean things, but for now, I really just need to get the basics done: bathrooms, dusting, vacuuming.  I want to feel like things are somewhat fresh, even if just for a short time. I think the maid idea would make a great Mother’s Day gift. I’m only asking for it once a year.

~5~

Attend a Baptism. One of my friends had a baby in November and the Baptism is the Monday after Christmas. For once I am really looking forward to attending a Baptism. Baptisms can be so hard (along with baby showers and other baby things). But this friend has been through so much to get pregnant. Three years of struggles until she finally started seeing a NaPro Tech doctor and finally got pregnant. So happy for her and her husband!! I am finding myself most excited about babies that come after much waiting and praying. So this Baptism will be very special. (Not only that, but she has been so supportive during my losses as well, attending Zachary’s funeral and Brigit’s burial service, and having lunch with me on Zachary’s due date. She’s been an awesome friend!)

~6~

Christmas cards. I haven’t done these yet, but I’m not worried about it. Christmas starts on Dec. 25, so who says I need to get them out during Advent? I’ll be working on them during this next week and I plan on putting them in the mail just as the Christmas season begins. I see people on Facebook stressing out over not having their Christmas cards done yet. Why? Christmas hasn’t even begun; we have all the way through mid-January!

~7~

Read!! Oh there are so many things I need to read!! I have stacks of Catholic magazines, newsletters from religious communities and other Catholic organizations, our local Catholic newspaper, and tons of books. True, I won’t get through all of it in the next two weeks, but I’d love to make a dent in it. I’d love to clear out most of the old newspapers and magazines, read one book, and catch up on all the blogs I read. I’m also interested in adding a few things to my own blog, but that’s low on the priority list at this point.

Merry Christmas to all!! I hope it is a blessed Christmas for everyone!!

For more Quick Takes check out the Quick Takes Post at Jen Fulwiler's blog where there are always lots of links to many great blogs.  Thanks to Jen for her wonderful Quick Takes hosting!!