I slept in this morning until after 8:00, which is a true luxury. When I wake up on the weekends, the first thing I usually do is to help the dog go to the bathroom (have I explained this before? because he’s paraplegic, I have to manually express his bladder for him) then feed the dog and the cat. Today, I did that, then got right back in bed. I thought I might fall back asleep for a while (SUCH LUXURY), but I wound up just kind of lounging and looking at my phone for another hour or so. During this time, the cat was sitting just outside the bedroom door, which was slightly ajar, staring in at me. What a weirdo.

I made a big pot of coffee and a breakfast burrito and watched an episode of Gilmore Girls (“Richard in Stars Hollow”) while contemplating my day. My husband was heading out to a coffee shop to do a major grading marathon, but I decided my own grading could wait. Instead, it was time for some serious house cleaning.

Since CW and I had both been knocked out by this crazy virus lately, we’d been pretty lax about housekeeping. The larger priority was, of course, remaining alive and getting our jobs done. So, yeah. The house needed some help. I managed to clean both the bathrooms, wash all the towels and the dog’s blankies, tidy the living room, vacuum and dust, and clean the kitchen. I sorted my laundry that was hanging out on the chair in my room — the stuff that’s not clean but doesn’t need to be washed so I’ve draped it over the chair for a few days, you know? — and cleaned up some of the random piles in my closet, put away the shoes that had been left all over the bedroom, etc. It felt really good.

I also started rearranging some of the bits and bobs that are on our mantel and our Ikea Expedit shelf (you know, the one with the big squares, which is sort of a bonus mantel space) in anticipation of putting some holiday things out. The header photo for this post shows a few things from last year, my pinecones and paper trees. (Should I spray paint them this year? I can’t decide.) I am ready to start, like, right this minute.

To be honest, that’s another thing that’s bothering me about having to move our Thanksgiving dinner to the Saturday after. Normally, I’d want to use that day to go pick out a Christmas tree and start decorating, but now we won’t be able to do that until the following weekend, which will already be December 6-7. We’ll only be here in town until December 18th or so, when we’ll set out for all our Christmas travels. I’ll only get 12 days to enjoy Christmas in my own home this year. As I’m doing that math and typing it out I’m feeling more and more down about it. I love having my house feel all festive and warm and cozy and twinkly. Having that space to be in during the semester break is just always a joy. It feels like a true respite and retreat. I don’t care if that sounds stupid, which it sort of does. Winter is my favorite season and Christmas is my favorite time of year, so, you know. I just want some time to feel like I’m enjoying the relaxing and festive aspects of the holiday season. In my own home. Apparently, I have more feelings on the matter than I really would have thought. Sigh.

Okay, hmmm. I suppose I could put out everything but the tree the week after Thanksgiving, during my evenings after work. Why wait for the weekend? I can also make sure to keep all the decorations up until at least the Epiphany. I mean, we don’t even start back at school until January 14th, so I could even keep them up until then, couldn’t I?

The only other matter is the fireplace. It turns out the pilot light isn’t working, so now I have to call and get it fixed. I’m doing that Monday. I need the danged fireplace.