The first week ...

This first week of January is always a weird week for me. While the rest of the world slips out of the holiday mode and sheds their festive garb, I am still keeping up my decorations for one more week.

Every year we have a Christmas Party at our house with a gaming group we see monthly during the year. My preference is to squeeze the festivities into a period prior to January 1st, but those weeks are so busy that getting a date that works for all is pretty hard. So for years we have celebrated this party on the first weekend after the New Years!

Thankfully this party is pretty easy to pull off. We typically have a spiral cut ham and roast beef for those who aren't ham eaters, store bought salads, I make stuffed mushrooms and a few other easy dishes and someone brings dessert. And we exchange gifts. It is a fun and relaxing time for all because we aren't competing with all the other seasonal commitments.

Next week the tree comes down and the decorations get packed away - at least the ones that survive the yearly purge.

I am busy with what is best described as "puttering" - and it is making the house feel a little more organized and settled - especially after the last few unsettled months. I blogged about some of the changes a few days ago - and they continue. I still have a list of things I would like to complete, but for now I am happy to just take my time doing little stuff. It fits in with my winter mojo - staying focused on the home and scaling down expectations. I just love January ... I love the winter ... I love the fact that weather forces you to focus on the space within your four walls.

And the birds have returned to my deck with gusto - actually, it is fair to say that the Cardinals have returned in mass. I am always amazed at the number of Cardinals I have - it is nothing for me to see 4 or 5 males and an equal number of females every single morning. They far outnumber the other birds. It helps that I put out seed they like ... :-) I am pretty sure that they aren't showing up because of my sparkling personality.

And I am walking ... woohoo!! The little person on the top of my blog shows 4 miles towards my 1000 mile goals. Please, please! Keep down the applause. :-) I am just glad I figured out how to work the little person so it shows the correct total. My knees seem to be unhappy with this new push to be more active. Little do they know that I plan to pick up Tai Chi again come this spring ... and maybe yoga.

Visits to assisted living continue to go pretty well. Mom seems to have moved passed her moody stage. I have noticed she is moving things around in her room now ... sort of doing her own version of "settling." Last week I talked with her about getting her hair washed and cut this week ... which she promptly forgot, until the hair dresser stuck her head in the door this morning (while I was there thankfully) and said she planned to take mom (take her upstairs - not far) to do the cut today. Of course, mom put up a small resistance, but I just barreled on saying that we talked about this last week, and she agreed, and she always says how much better she feels after it is done, etc. etc. etc. By the time I was done talking, she was done complaining ... :-) Works well for both of us.

So the first week of January is pretty uneventful ... I am loving 2012 so far!

Oh, that's right, it is only January 3 - the year is very young, so much can go wrong!!