Herding Cats

The Madwoman of Chaillot has nothing on me.  It won't be long before I am a complete nutter.  Back in the day, thermometers were filled with mercury.  I never actually broke one on purpose, but when one would break it was such fun to play with that oh-so-strange liquid metal that would break into beads and then reform as a mass.  Trying to organize my family for the holidays is much like that.  I don't mind playing fast and loose with dates on the calendar; it's enough that I keep track of the days of the week.  All of my Kids run on a tight schedule, and the goal is to get together for celebrations as close to the universal holiday as possible.  This year it is like herding cats; total chaos.  If this one if free on a certain weekend, another is working.  If this one plans to be out of town, that's the only day the other can come.  After multitudinous phone calls and a calendar that has been crosshatched like a gun butt, I do believe we have reached consensus.  Thanksgiving will be celebrated on December 3rd  this year and Christmas on January 7th, 2012.  We've been out of sync with the rest of the world (no comments from the peanut gallery, please) before, but never this far out.  It will be interesting to see when we celebrate the Fourth of July.

Just to give that extra nudge to push me over the edge, the time changed this morning.  By the "new" time, I did not wake up at my normal five o'clock;  I woke up at four.  The newscasters kept saying last night that I would gain an hour's sleep.  Really?  No...awake is awake, regardless of what the clock says.  The animals and I operate by a circadian rhythm determined by the hours of light and dark.  Not one of them wears a watch.  By the time I finally adjust, it will change again.  Aaargh.