The past few weeks have been a complete blur. Eliot and I have been dashing right through December at what feels like lightning speed. But... we did it. I'm not sure how on Earth we did it, but we did. Santa's helpers have officially gotten all of their holiday orders completed and in the mail by the USPS shipping deadline.
It's been a bit of insanity. The printers have been printing nonstop. Eliot and I have seen 4:00 AM many times over the past two weeks, but we got everything that needed to be out in time for Christmas delivery done. The best part of the entire thing was that we never closed our shops. In the past, we've had a hard cut off date for Christmas orders, as well as a date where we closed our shops. With the shops closed, we've been able to prevent last minute orders. This year, we kept them open and accepted orders right through our deadline. Thankfully, we still got everything out in time!
After saying that, one would assume that we haven't done anything but work our butts off, however, I'm very happy to report that hasn't been the case! Eliot and I have also been able to squeeze in some moments of fun during the chaos. This year, we made sure to make time for ourselves so it wasn't all work and no fun.
On December 1st, Eliot had another massage up in Portland. I was feeling festive, so I dressed up in my new Disney Christmas sweatshirt and green pants. While he was at his appointment, I went to TJ Maxx and Michael's to do some shopping. I found some of the Disney Baublebar earrings I'd been looking for. I also found a bunch of other Disney Christmas treasures. Afterwards, Eliot and I went out to dinner at Friendly's and we split a Peppermint Brownie Sundae for dessert.
Thursday December 2nd, I went into town to meet up with Eliot at Walmart. We had planned to get our booster shots, but Walmart wasn't taking walk-ins anymore. (I had called the previous day to check, and apparently they hadn't updated their phone system.) We were disappointed, but since we were already there, we decided to go shopping instead. We made a quick stop over at TJ Maxx before heaving dinner together at Panera Bread and heading home for the night.
Sunday the 5th, Mom and Dad arrived in Portland for Dad's seminar. It was supposed to take place in person, but due to COVID cases rising, it was moved online. Mom and Dad still wanted to have their mini getaway though, so they still came. Mom stayed at the hotel that night, but Dad came out to the house to sell Jeremy's old car. (Long story short, we've been holding it here in our driveway for a few years since it broke down on his way home for Thanksgiving. Mom and Dad technically still owned it so they needed to sign it over to a new owner.) The guy who helped us when we called AAA a few weeks ago was interested in buying it, so we sold it to him that night!
Monday the 6th, I got up and drove into Portland to meet up with Mom and Dad. Dad was in his seminar all day, so Mom and I were going to hang out while he was online. I arrived at their hotel the same time as Dad's morning break, so we were able to visit for a few minutes before he had to go back to his online seminar. Mom and I were both more in the mood for breakfast than lunch, so we went over to IHOP. Then, we brought clam chowder from Friendly's back to the hotel room for Dad.
That afternoon, Mom and I went swimming in the pool at their hotel. I hadn't been to that hotel pool before, but I was familiar with the location because it's where I used to have my chiropractic assistant conference each October. The pool was right near the conference area! I couldn't believe that I'd missed it all that time. Thankfully, it was empty and Mom and I got to enjoy it all to ourselves.
That evening, Mom, Dad and I went out to dinner together at Olive Garden. Eliot was planning to join us, but he was busy at work. Instead, we planned to meet up with them again for dinner at Texas Roadhouse the following day. After dinner, Mom, Dad and I visited at the hotel for an hour or so before I left for home. Eliot and I actually arrived at home right about the same time!
Unfortunately, the universe didn't want me to enjoy the last day of Mom and Dad's Portland trip. I woke up around 6 am and had horrible stomach pains. I won't go into details, but let's just say that I had terrible food poisoning and I was in the bathroom from 6 am until around noon. I was in no shape to drive so I had to leave Mom at the hotel with Dad. She and I had both planned to get our hair cut at JCPenney. Then, we were going to go shopping at the mall. I was so disappointed and I had been looking forward to it for weeks... but there wasn't much I could do about it.
I spent most of the day on the couch on Wednesday 12/8. I was so sore from throwing up that I could barely move. About halfway through the day, I got a text message from my former boss. Apparently, my replacement might need to be out of the office on Thursday 12/9 and Friday 12/10 and she wanted to see if I could cover for her. I was a little apprehensive- mostly because of how sore I was. But I also didn't know if I'd remember how to put anything in the computer... it's been 2.5 years since I last went in to cover for her in May of 2019. Then, I also had no idea where my scrubs were.
Thankfully, none of those things mattered and I was able to go in to help out Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. It was a lot of fun to visit my old office. I really enjoyed seeing Dr. C and meeting the new doctor. I also really enjoyed seeing all of the patients that visited while I was there. There were a few new patients, but a lot of them were people who I had seen for years. They were excited to see me, and a few asked if I was back for good. They asked what I was up to and how our businesses were going. It made me so proud to tell them how well things were going!
After helping out at the office on Friday 12/10, I went up to Portland to grab socks for my Socks and Sweets gift exchange with my Key to the World buddy. Homegoods and Marshall's was completely packed, so after that I escaped as quickly as I could. On the way home, I got myself a personal BBQ Chicken and pineapple pizza from the Pat's Pizza in Scarborough and I enjoyed it while watching a movie at home.
Over the weekend, Eliot and I were working like crazy. Unfortunately, in the middle of our work efforts, I dropped my phone and the screen shattered. I'd already cracked the corner of it, but this was really bad. So Monday 12/13, we found ourselves going to the local cell phone repair store to get my screen replaced. It was the first time I'd ever had to get a new one- which is pretty impressive considering that I've had iPhones since 2008. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised with how quick and easy it was... within 10 minutes, I had a new cell phone screen and it felt like an entirely new phone!
After that, things got a bit crazy last week. Eliot and I were working in overdrive. We had a lot of late nights... or should I say early mornings? We went to bed around 4 am many times. Then, we were up around 10 or 11 am to do it all over again. We were cutting it close to get orders done. I sent messages out to customers who had orders due to go out after the deadline and I found out what orders we needed to prioritize.
Eliot ended up taking the day of from work on Thursday 12/16 and Friday 12/17. He had planned to take Friday off, but we were on a roll and getting things done so he took Thursday off as well. We flew through orders, getting things done as quickly and efficiently as possible. There were a lot of moving parts, a lot of orders being worked on at the same time, a lot of things at various stages of completion. But somehow, everything came together and we finished it all. We even got some actual sleep in those last two days. We're usually pulling an all nighter before the deadline!
On Friday 12/17, we took 27 packages of 30 items to the post office. Yesterday, Eliot took another 18 packages of 26 items. After his post office run, we crashed. Eliot got us Dunkin Donuts for breakfast that we ate while watching a Hallmark movie. Then we made our way back to bed and slept the rest of the afternoon away. Last night, we drove through the snow storm to do some grocery shopping for today's event. Once home, I enjoyed my pre-made meal of salmon that we got at the store while we watched another Hallmark movie and chilled out.
This afternoon, Eliot and I attended our neighborhood Christmas Cookie Exchange Party. This is the first year we've done it, and it was so much fun. One of our neighbors hosted the event in their garage to keep things as COVID compliant as possible. Some of us wore our face masks and we all social distanced both inside and outside. (As far as I know, we're all vaccinated as well.) Each of the cookies were individually wrapped so no one had to touch the food. They also had individual cups of crackers and cheese or veggies and dip. Then, there was beer, wine and hot cider.
Eliot and I had a blast catching up with everyone. The kids were so excited for cookies and Christmas. Even Rosie the German Shepard had a lot of fun with all of us taking turns throwing her ball and playing catch. Everyone got a kick out of Eliot's and my matching Disney sweaters and Mickey and Minnie Santa hats. (They claimed we put the rest of them to shame since we were the only ones dressed in festive wear.) It was a lot of fun and I'm sure it will be an annual tradition going forward!
The party was also the perfect way to kick of this festive week! Now that the crazy part of December is over, Eliot and I are looking forward to kicking back and enjoying the holiday season. I'm looking forward to relaxing on the couch and watching some Hallmark movies while Eliot's at work. We'll finish up a few orders that we have that could be sent after the shipping deadline. (Thankfully, those are minimal so we won't have to stress out about getting those completed.) Then, later this week, we'll head to my parents' house for Christmas weekend.
I'm so proud of everything Eliot and I have accomplished these last few weeks! Now, we're going to sit back and enjoy the fruits of all our hard work! Maybe we can glide through the rest of December at more of a steady trot than a dash! °o°
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