Reaching the point of Christmas critical mass

By By Leada Gore, Editor
In the world of science, critical mass is the element that triggers a sustained nuclear chain reaction. In the world of Christmas, critical mass is the moment when you decide to throw out all pretense of organization and adopt the “by any means possible” philosophy.
For me, Christmas critical mass arrived last week. The perfect storm arrived – three Christmas parties, a giant pile of unwrapped gifts, unmailed cards, and one undecorated tree. Add to this the little matter of someone rear-ending my car Thursday night, making it the third out of the last four Christmases my car has been in the shop thanks to someone else’s driving.
I came to realize last weekend that any sort of organization or even sanity was asking a little too much. It was at this time I moved into super-speed mode.
I opted not to wrap the presents and moved instead to putting any gift than needed gifting into a bag. Some of these bags have been used so many times I pasted the “to” label over the three or four previous ones. Someone in full-on Christmas mode doesn’t have time to worry about such things.
Project done.
Next, I moved onto the cards. In a flurry of stamps, photos and address labels, I quickly scribbled out a “Merry Christmas” on each card.
Project done.
I then tackled the undecorated tree. Thanks to the wonder of unbreakable ornaments, I was able to decorate the entire tree with the help of Sutton, who’s 17-months-old. It wasn’t pretty and most of the ornaments are hanging from the bottom branches but it’s complete, finished off with a bow on top.
Project done.
And now onto the Christmas parties. I ran around and got ready, donning holiday finery and taking the baby to her aunt and uncle’s house. I made it back in time to leave, grabbing a coat and smearing on some lipstick.
Done.
I was feeling rather smug at the party. I had managed to navigate through the minefield of Christmas and made it to what was supposed to be a fun event.
Project done….well, almost.
It was about this time I realized I had made it to the party wearing one earring. The one I did have was rather large, so it wasn’t as if the problem wasn’t noticable.
Oh well. It was critical mass time. Who has time to worry about such things?