My tree-trimming party is due to start in 13 hours. I am exhausted, but the state of the Burrow suggests I ought not to be.

Here’s roughly how we got to where we are:

1. Set the date of the party sufficiently in advance. (Mine has been the second Sunday after Thanksgiving since I started throwing them for my college interns and my friends the year after I graduated college myself. Eighteen years is considered sufficient.)

2. Invite guests early enough so that can fit your event into a busy holiday season. If you have essentially reserved a date for yourself for two decades, this can be slightly closer to the event … such as when repeat guests start asking when the invitation is going to arrive.

3. Begin to clean your home. Depending how often this occurs at other times of the year, it may be necessary to place this higher in your timeline. In my case, I ought to have started the day after my last party.

4. Procrastinate. Allow sufficient time for this. Consider starting a large and detailed and difficult-to-relocate project right in your main party space. You work better under a deadline, after all.

5. Clean some more in a haphazard fashion. Preferably stop one project partway through and leave it behind as if Mr. Clean has been swept through your living space by a hurricane.

6. Take a nap. Make some food. You need to keep up your strength after all.

7. Tackle a small part of the paper you ought to recycle the night before the final recycling is picked up before your party. By small, I mean a handful of envelopes. By night before, I mean 4 a.m.

8. Start to hit a frenzy. Of course you’ll get this all done! There’s plenty of time. By that, I mean two days. Almost.

9. Buy party supplies. In my case, this involves a tree, food, drinks, and paper products. Why does this grocery store not carry half the things you want? Are three bags of chips enough? Where, for the love of all things merry, is the vegan eggnog?!

10. Despair. Is it too late to uninvite all the guests 16 hours before the party is due to start? Or maybe just turn out all the lights and pretend not to be home?

11. Prioritize. A clean bathroom and a clean kitchen are important. People are willing to overlook dust, but they like a clean sink; remember, though, you can still lock yourself in the bathroom to do a spot clean after the first guests arrive.

12. Why have you never noticed all the cat fur and cat litter tracked all over the place? Oh, no, wait. You totally have. You just opted to overlook it.

13. Eat chocolate and drink tea. This will keep your mind off the fact that you have not left yourself enough time to sleep.

14. Stop to write a blog post. Because we all know that helps.

15. Tackle the biggest non-loud projects in the middle of the night. Then you can pretend your tears are from the strain, rather than the knowledge that you will not finish in time.

16. Get some sleep. Two hours is a nice amount for a long day ahead. You wouldn’t want to get groggy.

17. Calculate the time the stores open that sell the things you forgot or couldn’t find. Arrive as they unlock their doors.

18. Give up on prioritizing. Now you are just going to work on moving/hiding/minimizing the mess. Lacking a bedroom door and extensive closet space makes this a challenge.

19. Chuck papers into bags. Make sure you note which bag contains the important/recent papers because inevitably you will need it tomorrow. This stage is not unlike moving apartments, at least for me.

20. Pile everything on your bed.

21. Try to vacuum before your guests arrive. (This will not always happen.)

22. Try to be done cooking before your guests arrive. (This will rarely happen.)

23. Assume that any guest that arrives promptly at the time you’ve said your party begins is interested in helping you clean and cook. Otherwise, why would they be there already?

24. Have an absolutely wonderful time with your guests during your party. These people are your friends and they really don’t care if you forgot to get rid of those cobwebs you just noticed in a dark corner or if they have to eat home-cooked chili out of a chipped bowl … or a (clean) reused takeaway container.

25. After your last guest has left, collapse on your couch and admire your lovely clean party space. Because you’re never going to bed with all that crap on it.

(See you tomorrow sometime on the other side of 24.)

Today’s Ten on Tuesday topic is 10 Stores I Like:

1. Politics & Prose: D.C.’s best bookstore, it offers patrons a well-stocked fiction, non-fiction, and kids sections, a decent music section, a remainders area, a cafe where you may have random conversations with fellow patrons, and 300+ book-related events a year. They also have shelves devoted to local authors, books set in/about D.C., and a machine that will let you self-publish a book. No, it’s not near a Metro stop, but it’s not a terrible walk from two stations, it is connected from both by bus lines, and it has a bikeshare station across the street (that they asked customers to petition for). Also: Upshur Books in D.C., RJ Julia’s in Connecticut, The King’s English in Utah, and Powells in Oregon.
2. Sullivan’s Toy Store: If you’re looking to buy presents for kids or people who like kid things, this Tenleytown shop is a great place. They have stuffed animals, Legos, puzzles, and a large art section. Also: Barstons Child Play in D.C. and Amatos in Connecticut.
3. Webs: Because I’m pretty sure it’s the biggest yarn store on earth, but it still feels homey. Also: Looped in D.C., Fibre Space in Virginia, and Blazing Needles in Utah.
4. Rodman’s: I forget how weird Rodman’s is. Most D.C. people are aware that it’s a great place to buy foreign ingredients and prepackaged food and alcohol, but if you venture downstairs, it proves also to be an old-fashioned department store, with kitchen goods, wrapping paper, a watch repair counter, and medical supplies. Also: Franklin’s General Store in Maryland and the Cedar Chest in Massachusetts.
5. Labyrinth: Located on Capitol Hill, they sell games of all sorts, as well as puzzles, and host a weekly games night that anyone is welcome to join.
6. Miss Pixie’s: Funky, used furniture for the D.C. apartment-dweller. Also: GoodWood in D.C. and Warehouse Showrooms in Virginia (for funky, new pieces). (There also used to be a used furniture shop in Middletown, CT, that I can’t recall the name of and which may or may not still exist.)
7. Turn It Up! CDs and More!: Still like to hold your music in your hands? This western-New England mini-chain (four shops in three states) is the place for you with a combination of new and used discs (and some vinyl). Also: Graywhale Entertainment in Utah, Newbury Comics in Massachusetts, Amoeba Music in California, and Generation Records in New York.
8. Porto Rico Importing Co.: This Greenwich Village coffee and tea purveyor has an annual tea sale every February that stocks me for the year with loose-leaf tea. We started out visiting there in person back in college and still stop in whenever we’re in the city. Also: Teaism in D.C. and McNulty’s in New York.
9. Whitlocks Book Barn: My parents used to drag us to this rural Connecticut outpost where you rummage through 3 barns worth of used books, but I came to appreciate its charm as an adult, when I would take friends there when we were too poor to afford new books. Also: Books for America, Capitol Hill Books, Second Story Books, Riverby Books, and Idle Time Books in D.C.
10. Meet Market, Eastern Market, Downtown Holiday Market: D.C.’s craft fairs, perfect for gift shopping, whether for yourself or for others. Also: Wesleyan Potters holiday sale in Connecticut.

Do you have favorite brick-and-mortar shops?

It occurred to me fleetingly a couple times last month that nothing had come through my feed reader from the annual Virtual Advent Tour about signing up for this year, but I assumed that it was merely a problem with the feed (it wouldn’t have been the first to be imported incorrectly after Google Reader went away), and I assured myself each time that I’d remember to go to the site to check out the deal. But it wasn’t until this morning, Dec. 1, that I followed through, wandering over to investigate the situation. It seems like perhaps it’s been shuttered for this year, since there are no new posts for 2014.

I was sad, realizing how much I’d come to count on these posts as of my December morning routine. Marg and Kailana put in a lot of work the past five years and I don’t want to usurp their place if they decide they want to return next year, but I also figure that I’m probably not the only one wishing to read other people’s holiday thoughts this month. So, I thought I’d put it out there: if I ran something similar from here, are other folks interested in signing up? It likely wouldn’t be anything nearly as fancy as what Kailana and Marg did (because I haven’t done any planning), but I’d be happy to post a roundup each morning pointing folks to seasonal posts around the blogosphere (and maybe I could include a video a couple times a week).

The posts can be about anything related to Christmas, advent, Hanukkah, the winter solstice, or anything else Decemberish. If you’re at a loss as to what you might post, here are links to what I’ve posted in years past: I’ve reported on a tuba carol sing, reviewed a Christmassy book, shared a song, a weird Canadian cartoon of the ’70s, and a cookie recipe, offered insight into making a Christmas mix, and took you along on for a pictorial tour of D.C.’s Christmas scene (including the first year we attended this tuba concert). And that’s just what I’ve written about. Other people share recipes, post about a special song, review a favorite holiday book, reminisce about Christmas past, talk about what their town or organization does to mark the holiday season, or generally tell what they’re doing to make the season merry.

If you’re interested in participating, leave me a note in the comments and tell me what date you think you’ll post. I can see your email address in the back end of my blog, so no need to leave that in the body of the comments. If folks do seem interested in going ahead, it’s fine for multiple people to post on the same day.

And if no one else is interested, that’s okay, too. I’ll try and share my own holiday thoughts as the month goes on. (Also, if someone else has already done this for 2014, please point me their direction; I have no need to reinvent the wheel.)

The last weekend in November included:

• A visit with Karen that included brunch, a walk, a picture book, and lots of talking.
• Time with Gramma at the nursing home, including a few new details in the story of how my grandparents met.
• Fresh-baked scones and CBS Sunday Morning with my folks.
• Getting two trees into stands and into the house and one mostly decorated.
• A reasonably pain-free commute (or as painless as a 400+ mile drive can be) home that got us in a mere 5 minutes after Rudi’s requested latest hour, even with a half-hour dinner break along the way.
• Making it to the penultimate chapter of the fourth Harry Potter audiobook.
• Three kitties very happy to have us home.
• Hitting my 30th day in a row of posting here.

How about you? What was your weekend like?

Weekending along with Pumpkin Sunrise.

Karen and I were out for a walk today and noticed a shrub we both liked, but that neither of us could identify.

Turns out it was Winter Heath (Erica carnea):

Isn’t it pretty?

Today’s Ten on Tuesday topic was 10 Things I’m Thankful For:

1. Health: Between Rudi’s ski injury and Gramma’s fall and all the little and big things that have cropped up to affect those I love in the last year, I am particularly grateful that we all seem to muddle through them.
2. Family: There’s nothing like hearing a doctor suggest that your loved one could have died to make all those niggling things they do seem exactly what they are: insignificant. Rudi and I are both lucky enough to still have our parents around, and my brother Josh totally has my back. Gramma has slowed down, but she’s nearly 94, and how many 40-year olds are lucky enough to still be able to converse with a grandparent? My extended family is a member smaller than it was at this time last year, which makes me appreciate those who remain.
3. Friends: How lucky I am to have friends all over the country who care about me, including a bunch I’ve now known for more than half my life. They IM with me and text me pictures they think I’d like and leave comments here and visit and send packages and call and email and sing and bake for me and play games and help me decorate my Christmas tree and hang out on Friday nights in the summer.
4. Cats: Posey and Jeremiah have now been in our lives for a dozen years and Corey nearly a handful. While they refuse to mop the kitchen floor in exchange for room and board, they do curl up around our heads at night and entertain us with their playing and nuzzle us when we’re trying to type and guard the bathroom from intruders when we’re in the shower. They purr and are soft and love us, even when we buy them food that’s good for them, rather than delicious.
5. Work: I grumble sometimes about my job (not here, but in real life), but mostly I enjoy the people I work with and feel what we do is worthwhile. And even if neither of those things were true, it is not mind-numbing, back-breaking, or demeaning and it pays me generously when compared to the average earner.
6. The Burrow: D.C. has a large homeless population, including a lot of families. While our apartment might be below ground and lack a bedroom door, it has heat and windows that open and space enough for us and a landlord who is happy to fix things that break. It’s conveniently located to transportation and shops and is in a safe neighborhood with trees and a park.
7. Books: I am thankful that I like to read and am able to do so easily. I appreciate the nearby bookstores who sell me books and the library, who loans so many to me for free.
8. Food: When so many go hungry, I am lucky to have plenty. My cupboards are never bare and I never go to bed on an empty stomach. I’m lucky to have so farmers markets available to me, farms within a short drive, and a garden in which to grow my own plants.
9. Transportation: My 21-year-old car is still puttering along, next hopefully up to Connecticut for Thanksgiving. I have a bike that Rudi keeps in good shape for me, as well as access to a regional bike-sharing system. I can take a subway to work and a bus to the library. If I wanted to go to Baltimore or Richmond, trains would take me there and if I want to go further afield, there are three airports that will help make that happen.
10. Music: How poorer the world would be without songs, and how grateful I am that I have such access to recorded music and live performances.

How about you? What are you thankful for this year?