A Sprint through Christmas

Joe and I both took today off from work to prepare for our Christmas festivities. For those of you who have been in our home, you well know the amount of 'stuff', and the difficulties the 'stuff' have presented in allowing for a living flow throughout the house. Should any of you be able to visit within the next few weeks, you will notice the drastic changes we have made!

• The front parlor has been totally cleaned, including each and every individual piece of antiquity, and the black baby grand has been tuned.
• The library has been cleared and rearranged... and cleaned.
• The dining room has been cleared of all the Brown_County_Art, cleaned, and selectively had its antiquities rearranged.
• The back parlor has had all of its bookcases cleared of chachkies and replaced with, well... books... and cleaned.
• The kitchen... cleared and cleaned.
• The laundry room/powder room has had a nice treatment of Kenneth_Reeve hanging art added to its walls... and cleaned.

And I hope that if you are not able to drop-in on The 602 this Christmas season, that all of the work that has gone into it recently will remain as is. (I can only hope.)

The reasons for all the 'to-do' are two fold... On Saturday, we will be having our first ever Open House. It is for our friends and neighbors, Ron and Leigh Linton, who will be having a jewelry show. They are fine artisans in precious metals and stones, and we have thought of hosting a show for them for quite some time. It is also a way for us to be motivated to get our house 'guest-ready'.

Then on the following weekend, my family will be gathering here to celebrate our Christmas. It will be the first time I have hosted my family Christmas in several years. The last time, Rachel and I were still married, and Luke had just been born less than a month prior. Needless to say, my circumstances have changed drastically since then, and I am very excited to be able to welcome my own flesh and blood into a home full of warmth and love.

I've got a lot more to do, so I'd better get crackin'!!!! I'll post pictures as I can.