A Procrastinator's Christmas

Thank you, Charles Schulz!

Part of experimenting with an Early Christmas celebration this year was my desire to prep for the future when my kids would likely want to hold their own family celebrations in their own homes, or possibly be traveling to in-laws for the holidays.  Another reason was to finish the cooking, cleaning, gift-shopping and all else connected to our usual pre-holiday activities and then spend time in the days afterward in a more contemplative mode.

Well, it worked.  I got just as rushed and frantic as in previous years during the morning of the big group dinner, but I had a little message-to-self secreted in my pocket to fall back upon--it was going to be over in a few hours and then I could enjoy my family and friends throughout the remainder of the season.  I could be nicer then.

When I was wrapping a gift last night I realized that one of the reasons I become so agitated with the typical tasks connected to having people over for a meal is that I am such a procrastinator.  The week before an event is often filled with days of thinking, "Oh, it's too early to dust, the wood stove will just leave another film of grit on everything.  Better wait to the day before."  "Oh, I better look at those tablecloths to see if I really did wash them last Thanksgiving."  "Oh, no way am I going to clean the toilet now; I can do that real quick before folks arrive."  All this procrastination adds up to hours of time that is dearly needed in reserve for the day before and of hosting a meal.

Yes, I know that many folks put off tasks now and then.  But, let me give you a glimpse into how bad it can get.  You're going to feel a whole lot better about yourself after reading this.

I love the Peanuts comics, don't you?  Since I worked with children who often had difficulty with mobility I ripped out a particularly great Sunday strip and saved it for something down the road.  Newspaper clippings don't keep very well but this one was so pertinent to my life and many of my therapy buddies that I was sure I'd use it someday.

When I organized my files or my closets I'd come across the saved strip and remember that I was going to use it as a gift.  Hmmm...maybe I'd better buy the mat and glass when there was a sale at the frame shop.  Some while later I thought I'd give it to a friend who was retiring but found that the metal frames I already had on hand were the wrong size.  Shopping trips to several craft stores were fruitless; I'd have to order the odd sizes.  Doesn't sound too time-consuming, eh?  Here's the chronology:

1996:  Delighted in comic strip and carefully saved it.

2003:  Dragged picture-framing-advisor husband to store to choose mat color and style

2017:  Ordered additional frame parts from on-line company
            12-22-17  Spent hour almost slicing fingers off assembling sharp-edged frame

First week of 2018:  Planned delivery of gift to nearby friend (retired physical therapy buddy)

Let's see, this process took me, 21 years.

The active parts of this project probably took me about 5 hours to complete (cutting with scissors, driving to the frame store and choosing items, ordering parts online, assembling picture, driving to friend's home).  Believe me, over the last 21 years I spent much more than 5 hours thinking about it.

That's the burden that procrastination leaves in your brain and on your shoulders, the thinking about what you should do, the mental cons you tell yourself that it can wait 'til later, and the consequences that result from all these exhausting micro-decisions.

It's Christmas-time.  Even the overly-decorated trees with their discounted ornaments point toward the true reason for our celebrations this week.  Jesus decided to come to earth to save us.  And, thank you, Lord, you did what you said you would, when you said you would, and you came just at the right time.