preparing for the holidays

Over at Houseblogs.net (in conjunction with SC Johnson's www.rightathome.com contest) they've asked how you prepare for the holidays.  This year is a bit different at casacaudill as we'll be taking a break from our regular tradition of spending the holiday with Alan's family.  Instead, my mom, sister, her husband, his sister and my niece and nephew will be converging on our place the week of Christmas.  That means, there's a whole lotta prep between now and then.  We've never had that many people stay here at once (heck, we've never had that many people stay here at all!) so we're using this opportunity to fix up a lot of the shabbier elements of our house and give it a fresh sparkle that says, "welcome home."

First, we're painting the kitchen.  Yes, that's STILL in progress.  Maybe I'll finish this weekend.  (Maybe.)

We're also re-caulking the bath tub as it's really scary looking and not something you'd want guests to have to see, much less stand next to for any extended period of time.

We're taking the opportunity to finally finish decorating the back bedroom where Jenny and her family will be staying.  This includes picking a color/decor scheme and making the room look like not just a "hey, we'll put it in here room!" but actually a bedroom (what a novel concept).  We've started hanging new curtains to block out the light.  I'm working on sprucing up the bedding so that it's nice and welcoming - step 1: flannel sheets for the holidays!  I'm also looking at art work to go in there that will compliment the chat noir poster we've had for eons that found its way onto the wall. 

We're also debating getting rid of the ancient leather couch that currently resides in our office to make way for a leather club chair (and the air mattress my mom will sleep on while here). 

And of course, with all of this, we still have to decorate for the holidays.

I really loved our decor theme last year with the red and white birds and think I will be expanding on that this year. I've seen a lot of "woodland creature" type ornaments and decorations and think that might work well with the existing birds I already have.  Maybe I'll also incorporate a lot of pinecone elements too.  Hmmm ... perhaps a theme for our Christmas cards coming together?