Pajamas are like bunnies.....

..... they are multiplying around here. All the volunteers who had told me that they would be hosting Pajama Drives have kept their promise--- all in the same couple of weeks. As a result, I have more pajamas here than my agencies can accept at any one time. Unfortunately, these agencies don't have storage space to hold too many extra books or pajamas, so I usually give them just what they need for a two-week period. (Thankfully, I have deep closets here with lots of shelves. I'm sure that come the end of January, these "extra" pajamas will be going, going, gone.)

I decided to give out all the heaviest pajamas from now till the end of the month..... all the fleece and flannels that will come in handy when we get the cold snaps between now and the end of January. (Although, our latest cold snap has snapped itself out already and we're back to nearly 80 degrees.) The volunteers who are collecting pajamas and books in the downtown area will deliver everything directly to the downtown shelters that I direct them to, which is a real time-saver for me. Being that they're already in the downtown area, it just makes sense for them to do that, if they're willing to, and everyone seems happy to help that way.

I had been counting pajamas and books for most of this afternoon. When the counting and sorting got too tedious (boys/girls/babies/books, boys/girls/babies/books), I went out for a long walk. Gorgeous weather.... too warm for even a light windbreaker. (My kind of winter.)

I went into League City this morning, looking around J's antique shop for some vintage Christmas items. Going to our friends V & S's home the other night inspired me to look for a few more holiday items. V's home will do that to you--- so many Christmas things all over her house that it makes my home look sparse. (My husband would say Never happen! to that one.) I found a vintage 1950s tablecloth..... soft old white cotton with green holly leaves and red candles in the design. Pure retro-Christmas.... it will look great on the little table in our breakfast room. And when I went to pay for that, J told me it was "on him." He said it was a Christmas gift, because he had forgotten to buy us an ornament for our tree this year. So that was a nice surprise and totally unexpected.

I also found one of those small table-top ceramic Christmas trees that everyone was making in the 1970s when ceramics were at their peak. This one looks just like the one that my husband's mom used to have on top of her piano.... except hers was green and this one is white. This one (a steal in J's shop for just $20) has all the little green plastic bulbs and red birds in it, so when you plug it in, the light bulb inside the tree makes all the red and green "ornaments" glow nicely. Very kitsch, very Christmas, and I put it on top of our piano... it reminds me of my husband's mom's favorite holiday decoration.

Tomorrow is a must-go-grocery-shopping day. I've got a list for Christmas week, so I can get most of the items tomorrow, then just leave the very last-minute things for either Saturday or Sunday. Hate to go into Kroger that late in the week, especially before the holiday, but if I get to the store early enough, it shouldn't be too too crowded. (Famous last words.)

A week from today is Christmas. Very hard to believe..... where on earth has this year gone to?