We are fortunate enough to have received annual passes to Walt Disney World for Christmas this year, so we headed out for our first visit recently. Planning only a half-day since we can go back when ever we want this year. Here’s what’s on my packing list for the day:

• Fanny sack (driver’s licenses, cash, Credit Card)
• Sunblock
• Visor
• Camera (with charged battery)
• Cell phones
• Stroller
• Bottle water
• Juice box
• Snack
• Diaper bag (check to make sure diapers are in it)
• Change of clothes for toddler
• Flip-flops for the water area
• Tylenol (I always need one at some point in the day)
• Baby blanket to cover stroller

One of the most important rules we have in our family is that everyone wears tennis shoes to the theme parks. We spend all day on our feet and need to protect them and make sure everyone is comfortable all day long. The flip-flops are for the areas where our son can splash through water so he doesn’t have to go barefoot. You’d be surprised by what we see on people’s feet at theme parks: All I can say is, “ouch! My dogs hurt!”

Take this list to heart if you are going to any type of day event — it doesn’t have to be a theme park. Proper planning can make the difference between an enjoyable day spent together vs. a day spent looking for things you’d wish you brought — or worse, days spent nursing sunburned children and adults!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Take care, TCB

Oh (sock it to me, sock it to me,
sock it to me, sock it to me)
A little respect (sock it to me, sock it to me,
sock it to me, sock it to me)
Whoa, babe (just a little bit)
A little respect (just a little bit)

Aretha Franklin’s famous song is part of my theme for the new year. It’s my new year’s resolution: Respect.

A few years ago my husband and I decided to keep the resolutions simple. Sure, we always want to lose weight, eat healthy, exercise more, clean our house more often, the list goes on … but with too many resolutions it’s too easy to let them slip away as we move on with the year. With one, simple resolution we realize it is easy to keep.

For the past two years we had the same resolution: “Keep it simple.” When posed with two options, choose the one that is easier to fulfill. This can be interpreted in so many ways, but it really helped us realize that we over analyze so much in our lives. By keeping it simple, we are able to have so much more time in our lives to do the things that really matter. Since we did that resolution for two years in a row, it is pretty much a part of our lives. Now, we’re on to something new.

Respect.

I got the idea this year from Peter Walsh of TLC’s “Clean Sweep” TV show. He is the organization expert that asks his clients if they respect their precious heirlooms that have dust all over them. Every episode of the show, it seems, shows him asking one of the homeowners if he is respecting his items he claims means so much to him. Peter makes his point that if the item is so important, it needs to be respected. (Read my post about how Peter helps a woman with a hoarding problem, from the “Oprah Show.”)

Although our resolution is mainly about respecting our possessions, it really goes so much further. We’ll be asking it of everything we pass this year: our bodies, time, home, others.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me

Aretha Franklin was talking about a man when she sang that famous song, but to me it means a way to find out what truly matters.

I didn’t get my packages in the mail as I’d hoped this weekend, nor did I mail my Christmas cards. So, now I’m even further behind schedule. And, Christmas, need I remind you, is one week from tomorrow.

I did get some down time this weekend, so at least I have my sanity.  Tonight I’ll have to hustle to get the rest of my “to dos” done.

I’ve been running around like crazy making lists, buying gifts, decorating the house (moving furniture back into the living room), making cookies and doing everything to get ready for Christmas. Last night, while at a friend’s house, I learned that some people don’t send Christmas cards. Got me to thinking of ways that we can eliminate stress during Christmas.

1. Don’t send Christmas cards this year. if your friends are truly your friends they won’t blacklist you from their card list.
2. Stop baking. We all have enough sweets as it is, don’t we?
3. Buy your child one less gift than you plan.
4. Stop decorating. If you don’t have a decoration up by now, don’t put it up. Will you really miss it for one year?
5. Shop online.
6. Decide to go to lunch or dinner with a friend after the holidays instead of exchanging gifts.
7. Use gift bags instead of wrapping paper.
8. Skip at least one party.
9. Do one thing for yourself: read a magazine, watch your favorite show, take a bath.
10. Take time to reflect. Step back, knock one thing off of your list for today so that you can sit back with a glass of Chardonnay and reflect on what the season is really about.

Two weeks and one day left until Christmas. How did this happen? It feels like yesterday when I felt like I was ahead of the game, but alas, I am not.

You see, last week, at the last minute, we decided to have carpet installed in our living room. Lord only knows why we decided to do this now; right in the middle of Christmas season. But the timing seemed right at the time and the carpet was beyond pitiful. We’ve been overdue for a replacement for years. Even though the company we purchased the carpet from does next day installation, the process took us nearly a week: We had to make an appointment when we could both be at the house, then also be at the house the next day for the installation process. To save money, we decided to move the furniture ourselves. I’ll get back to Christmas in a minute.

So, we make the appointment, move the furniture, wait for the installers, then realize that if we’re putting in brand new carpet we should at least shampoo the sofas. Can’t put dirty sofas on a clean carpet now, can we? So, we drag out the shampoo machine and start cleaning.

Meanwhile, books, furniture and all the Christmas decorations are floating around in open boxes waiting to be put out as if they are on the Island of Misfit Toys. The tree is half decorated and we have yet to put all the furniture back in the living room.

But Christmas is coming so we must speed things up. Along with all the other stuff we have to do to get ready for the holidays (I have to get a package all the way to Italy) we now have to put our living room back together. At least we have new carpet to sit on while we wait for the furniture to go back in the room.