Preparing [ADVENTures]

[Adventure 334]

It's done. Inspiration struck late one night and now our ADVENTures can begin. I have set up an Advent calendar of sorts - mini stockings all in a row, with a treat and a mission for each day.

The things written on each slip of paper reflect just how grown up my children are at this point, as well as the uncertainty that is my life and my health at this moment. This year I hand over many of the joys and the tasks of the Christmas season to my children. 

Tomorrow is December 1 - the first day of our Advent calendar and also the day I go for days-long testing to see if I have a cerebrospinal fluid leak. I should have answers by next week. If I do have a CSF leak, depending on the location of the leak and the urgency to repair it, this Christmas could look incredibly different. 

So I prepare ADVENTures for my children that will hopefully be both fun and helpful. The St. Nicholas Day gifts are nestled under the yet-to-be-decorated tree. Most of the children's Christmas gifts are in canvas Christmas bags under the Advent stockings. I'll have something to add here and there and their stockings to stuff, but mostly Christmas gift preparations are done...just in case. 

I inhabit a just in case space in life right now. Because of that, I will spend the rest of the day - after yet another medical appointment and taking the evacuee family grocery shopping - making sure all is ready for Advent and Christmas so that, despite any medical procedures I might have to endure, my family can have the best Advent and Christmas possible.