Holiday Rush

Christmas is just a few days away and I can now almost breathe a sigh of relief because I’m more than half way through with my preparations. As of this writing, I am only short of 5 more gifts for friends exclusive of the ones for our teaboys and security personnel at work. I'm leaning towards giving mind enriching gifts this year so for my recipients, don’t expect the usual apparel and accessories gifts :)

For my friends at work including my team mates who are not Christians, I’ve decided to give them my hubby’s home baked cookies and carrot cake. He had agreed to make them for me since I’d like to give something special that’s not bought from any store in the UAE. Besides, whenever I come to work with some goodies to share, they’re always bitin with the stuff and end up asking for more.  Most of them even offer to pay. A lot of people have encouraged us to start up a small business with hubby’s baking prowess, but there isn’t just time to do it. We have shelved that idea for the time being, and will probably revisit it when we’re ready.

Home is now filled with Christmas sounds with Ray Conniff songs resonating in the air these days, plus hues from all the décors I’ve added to the Christmas tree. We got a red and gold wreath hung in our main door, and more importantly, a small nativity set that is placed in the middle of the hall. After all, the birth of Jesus Christ is the real reason for all this excitement so might as well put a symbol in the heart of our home to remind us of that. I’m currently on the look out for Christmas stockings which I’d like to hang on our doors at home and hopefully I’ll be successful with my search this weekend. Guess what I end up buying, too?  A Santa hat for hubby and a reindeer headband for me during one of our many trips to the mall.  

I've already come up with my Christmas menu, and I did some sort of a dry run while I was on holiday. My critic (named Ryan) says the dishes I prepared taste good so I guess I'm pretty much done on that part. I’ve also bought some Christmas themed napkins, linens and candles for the dinner, too, and by the start of the upcoming Eid Al Adha holiday next week, I’m gonna start bringing out the glassware and cutlery I’ve kept reserved for special occasions. I’ve also made a mental note to take a trip to the supermarket for the non-perishable goods we need for the preparations for the Noche Buena.

We will be toiling in the kitchen during the holidays but we don’t mind. We are pretty excited, in fact. Notice that I have used we instead of I? I think by now I have successfully injected in Ryan the Christmas spirit and I’m quite pleased about it.

So it's just 15 days left before Christmas and at this point, I guess we’re all good and right on schedule. Yay!