I just had the striking realization that it’s Christmas Eve, and that means I have to clean off the kitchen table. People might need to actually – you know- “eat” off of it tomorrow.

Now, I don’t know about you, but my kitchen table is the center of activity in my house, and as such, it is rather a microcosm of my life. Things that I need to either put away or find another temporary home for today and tomorrow include:

-My laptop – upon which I compose these posts, and surf the web, while still being able to watch a TV show going on in the living room.

-Noise cancelling earphones – for when I want to listen to something on the laptop without distraction, or when – like yesterday – I want to drink my coffee and check stuff online at 630 AM without disturbing the sleeping teenagers on the floor in my living room who had a sleepover the previous night and were awake until 2.

-Various bills, statements and the like.

-Coupons for the fabric store’s next sale. Although, I’ve already got a backlog of projects to finish first – like the quilt for Soldiers’ Angels, the microwave rice bag for a friend, and the shooting vest for my brother that I’ve been promising all fall.

                                    
-Christmas lights still in the box, along with glue gun and empty shotgun shells. These were moved to the table from the living room floor when the previously mentioned teenagers came to sleep over. I used all that a few weeks ago to make these, and was going to make another string.

-Folder that holds the papers for my gun memberships, so I can keep track of it all.

-Pamphlet from Antietam National Battlefield that I visited back on Memorial Day ( yeah, I don’t clean off the table that often)

-Three DVD’s on practical shooting – lent to me by a friend.

-The phone book that I used over the past few weeks trying to find SOMEone who would replace a couple pieces of siding that blew off my house in the last wind storm.

-Large purple binder that holds all my quartet music. Did I mention that I sing in a  women’s acapella quartet? That’s the “singing” part of my “Singing, Sewing, and Shooting” hobbies. It’s a blast. We’ve done a few performances for Christmas, and are making plans for Singing Valentines.

-Various stacks of requests for holiday charitable donations. I enjoy doing this, but once you are on a mailing list, the requests seem to come every week. You’d think the postage would become cost prohibitive after awhile.

-8×10 photos of the Babes With Bullets Camps I’ve attended. Been meaning to frame or put them in an album and haven’t gotten around to it.

– A scope mount that is likewise waiting for a “round tuit”.

– Compact camera that I bought that has a better zoom than my phone – maybe to take to SHOT? I still haven’t opened it.

-Bag of toothbrushes and sugarless gum leftover from Halloween. I suppose I should give it to the homeless shelter or something…

-Various omnipresent pens, notepads and reminder stickies. My brain goes fifty different ways sometimes, so I need visual cues to remind me to do things (like call someone about the durn siding).

-Biometric gun vault  for my bedroom. This is another installation project that is waiting for a “round tuit”.

-Pretty much everything “but”  A Partridge in a Pear Tree.

So. There you have it – my “Wonderful Life” in microcosm on the kitchen table. I’d like to think that it just means that I have a fun and busy life – not that I’m a slob. But I embrace my mess as an expression of “me” – LOL

Maybe seeing my mess will make you a little less hard on yourself about your own hobbies and messes, and let you relax and enjoy the holidays. 🙂

From my kitchen table to yours — Merry Christmas!