Day 1

Day one started very simply with sleeping in. It was typical, drizzly, chilly fall weather and the flannel sheets were just too all-over inviting, so we gave ourselves permission to lounge about. The cats (of which we have two) also found this to be absolutely fabulous and were soon pushing us out of the way with their deep, twisting (and abnormally powerful) stretches.  Somehow we ended up bent around the cats, in awkward positions, so's to maintain their comfort (amazing how they do that).  Eventually, we had to admit to our discomfort level and leave the bed - but it was nice while it lasted.

I should first say that Day one was a Friday & fell on a 'post-chemo' day.  I'm receiving treatments for breast cancer that was detected over the summer. My treatments began in August, and I am now nearing the end with just one more treatment left before moving on to the next (somewhat terrifying) step of surgery and radiation. With this much scary stuff on the horizon, we really felt the need to focus on happier, more magical things. It started out with us just trying to capture some of the early holiday spirit, since we really don't know what our holidays will look like, but it's really much more than that. It's finding and holding on to the joy that makes life so wonderful - whether at Christmas time or beyond.

Next, as silly and consumer-ly as it sounds, we treated ourselves to a fancy cup of coffee - then took ourselves window shopping at Ten Thousand Villages, where we smelled (and bought) some lovely soaps, played with musical instruments, petted the store dog (Lizzy) - who was so soft, you didn't want to stop petting her - and touched everything.

Usually, this would be enough to do me in, but we then decided it would be great to make our own Christmas cards this year. So we went out and bought paper and supplies, took everything home, laid it all out and basked in the creativity of it all. Too tired to do anything else, we made plans for the cards, then went off to our respective corners to work a bit.