I opened my side of our bedroom closet and a pair of sweatpants tumbled down from my top shelf. I bent over, scooped them up and tossed them back on the shelf.

“Are you serious?” Steven asked as he walked out of the bathroom in time to see me tossing the sweatpants.

“What?” I looked over my shoulder pretending I didn’t know what he was talking about. But I knew.

“Your side of our closet is a disaster!” he went over to his side, opened the door and swept his hand up and down like he was a game show host showing off prizes. “Why can’t your side look more like this?”

I looked at his top shelf where his sweats were neatly folded and stacked practically in color order. All of his shirts were hung facing in the same direction while his pants were in their own section.

“Yours does look better.” I admitted. “But I know where everything is so it really doesn’t matter what my side looks like, does it?”

“Really?” Steven seemed doubtful.

As if on cue the sweatpants, I’d just tossed back up on the shelf, fell down again. I looked at Steven then reached down and scooped them up again. “I consider this organized chaos.” I said as I tossed them back on the shelf where they finally stayed put.

“Organized chaos?” Steven started to laugh. “That’s what you call that?” he pointed to my pile of shoes that were in a jumble on the floor.

“Exactly.” I reached down into the pile and pulled out my sneakers.” “See I knew exactly where they were.”

“So your empty shoe rack is just getting in the way of your organization?”

I nodded. “Now you’re getting it.” I reached into my already opened sock drawer and pulled out a pair of socks. Holding them up for him to see. “I didn’t even have to waste time opening the drawer.”

Steven sat down on the bench at the end of our bed. “I just don’t get it.” he said shaking his head and looking confused.

“What don’t you get?” I sat down next to him and started putting on my socks.

“The whole house is in order. Everything has a place.” He looked around our room. “The bed is made, nothing laying on the floor.”

“So what’s your point?” I was tying my sneakers.

“So how can the entire house look one way but your closet looks like a hoarder lives here.”

“Hey!” I pushed him in his shoulder. “Not a closet of a hoarder…but someone who embraces organized chaos!” I reminded him.

I got up and looked out our bedroom window. “I’m going to take a quick walk before dinner. You want to come?”

“No thanks.” He got up himself still looking at my side of the closet.

“Here, let me help you.” I went over and with one foot pushed the shoes back into their pile so I could close the door. “That’s the reason they invented doors!” I pushed it closed then looked back at Steven. “See all better.” I waved my hand around the room where everything was in it’s place.

“I still know what’s behind the door.” Steven said as he shook his head.

“Oh my gosh! These are so cute!” I came into the kitchen where my husband, Steven was busy making a salad and held up my phone for him to see.

“Fairy doors?” Steven seemed confused as he continued to cut up the romaine.

“I just ordered them!” I looked back at my phone. “They should be here in a few days!” I couldn’t help but smile.

Our son Alex walked into the room. “You sure look happy.” He went over to the refrigerator and looked inside.

“I just ordered these!” I held the phone up for him to see.

“Fairy doors?” he looked over at Steven. “Did you see these?”

Steven shrugged his shoulders as he scraped the romaine off the cutting board and into a bowl. “Hey, if it makes your Mom happy…”

“They’re fun!” I cried as I looked back at Alex. “You know how much I love the one that’s at the little house on the corner!” I looked over at Steven. “Every time I go by that tree, and see that little door, I can’t help thinking, ‘Who lives in there!’”

Alex was moving things around in the refrigerator, clearly not finding what he was looking for. “She doesn’t just think it.” he called over his shoulder. “She actually says it every time we go past that house.”

“Of course I do!” I looked over at Steven who was cutting up cherry tomatoes. “It’s a tiny door at the base of a tree! What’s not to love!” I looked out the front window. “Now I just have to decide which trees to put them on!”

“Wait a minute!” Alex closed the refrigerator door and looked at me. “What do you mean when you say trees?”

I held up my phone again for him to see my order. “They come four to a package.”

“FOUR!” Alex looked over at Steven who just shook his head.

“Well I’m not going to use all four.” I quickly explained. “That really is too many.” I was looking out the front window again. “But I might do two. One in the front yard and one in the back.”

“What if we skip the front yard and just keep them in the back.” Alex looked to Steven for some backup.

“But then no one will be able to drive by our house, see it and say, ‘Who lives in there?’” I looked back at my phone trying to decide which doors I was going to use.

“Exactly!” Alex started to laugh.

“You know, you should be glad I’m just doing the door.” I looked out the back window to see where my new purchase was going to go. “Some people are doing whole fairly gardens!”

Now Alex looked confused. “What’s a fairy garden?”

“Along with the doors you can get little stepping stones that lead to the tree, maybe a sign that you can hang next to the door, they even have the fairies themselves! The accessories are endless!” I cried.

Steven tossed the tomatoes in the bowl. “You’re just sticking with the door right?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Well, yeah. The door is plenty for me.” I looked over at Alex, trying to reassure him. “I think the rest of the stuff might seem a bit much.”

Steven looked over at Alex. “Now aren’t you grateful she only wants the door?”

“I guess.” Alex didn’t seem convinced yet.

Steven pointed to the salad. “You want some?”

“Sure.” Alex sighed as he reached in the cabinet and took out some bowls. “But can we at least agree to keep it in the back yard?”

Steven and Alex both turned to look at me.

I thought about it for a moment. “Okay. Fine. Just the backyard.” I sighed.

“Okay, this is ridiculous!” I cried as I dumped several remote controls on the dining room table.

Steven was sitting at the table returning some e-mails on his phone. “Where did they come from?” He asked, looking at the pile I’d just put in front of him.

“I decided to clean out some drawers today and this is what I found!”

“Okay, so you found some old remotes.” He didn’t seem impressed.

“Oh, I’m not done!” I cried as I went into the front hall and opened the drawer of the foyer table. “There’s more in here!” I brought back several more to add to the pile.

Steven didn’t even look up from his phone.

“I’m still not done.” I called as I headed into our bedroom. Opening the bedside table I pulled out even more then went back to dining room, adding them to the pile. “Why do we have all of these?”

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “We’ve owned a lot of electronics over the years.”

“That’s your answer?” I was completely baffled. “So when we got rid of the old stuff, why didn’t we throw out the remotes?”

Steven glanced at the pile. “Because I’m not sure which ones we’ve thrown away and what’s up in the attic. It’s just easier to keep them all in case we need one of them some day.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “You do know that’s the mantra of every hoarder in the world.”

“We’re not hoarders!” Steven seemed annoyed by the suggestion.

“Well, clearly we are when it comes to remotes.” I waved my hand over the pile I’d collected.

“Can we worry about this another time?” he asked looking back at his phone. “I really need to return this text.”

While he was busy with his text I was picking through the pile. “I don’t even remember some of these.” I picked up a small one with the word Bose on it. “Did we ever have any Bose equipment?”

“That might have been your Mom’s.” Steven said offhandedly. “I think she had a Bose radio.”

“So how did we wind up with it?”

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “Got me.”

I just shook my head. “So what do you want to do with all of these?”

“I don’t have the time to go through them right now.” Steven put down his phone and looked at the pile I was picking through. “Maybe you could put them back and I’ll check them out when I have more time.”

I had to laugh. “You just finished telling me you haven’t had time in the past thirty years to go though them. I’ve finally cleaned out all the drawer in the house. I don’t want to put them back.”

“Okay, well do you have a box or something you can put them in?”

“How about a garbage bag?” I asked.

“Sure.” Steven went back to his phone while I went and got a garbage bag and began tossing them in.

“Wait!” Steven put his phone down. “You’re not throwing them away, are you?”

“Well, I was.” I admitted.

“I told you I’m not sure which ones we need.”

“Okay, fine.” I sighed. “I’ll put the bag up in the attic.” I went over to the kitchen junk drawer and pulled out a marker and wrote: Dad’s Collection on the bag. I smiled as I held it up for Steven to see. “Just to make sure everyone knows who the remote hoarder is in this house.”

I was laying on the couch, eyes closed, when I heard Steven quietly walk past me. “I’m up.” I said as I stretched and looked out the window. I could see it was already late in the afternoon. “How long have I been napping?” I asked as I tried to see the clock on the side table.

“You’ve been out for at least two hours.” Steven said as he sat next to me on the couch and looked for the television remote.

“Oh, that’s way too long.” I complained. “I’m going to have to work on my napping skills.”

Steven started to laugh. “What kind of skills does it take to nap?”

“Oh, you’d be surprised.” I folded the afghan and put it back on the arm of the couch. “Power naps are only supposed to be 20 or 30 minutes. Two hours is going to mess up my sleep tonight.” I settled back down on the couch. “So what were you doing while I was napping?” I asked.

Steven plugged in the heating pad and put it on his shoulder. “I cleaned out the gutters and straightened out the shed.”

“Wow! It sounds like you got a lot accomplished too!”

“Too?” Steven looked surprised. “Since when is napping getting something accomplished?”

I put my feet up on the coffee table. “It seems you don’t want to understand the importance of napping.” I cleared my throat, ready to recite all the benefits I’d been reading about. “Universities have done a lot of studies, and not only does it keep my stress hormones down, it also helps with my creativity.” I looked over at him and smiled. “So you see I’m working hard on becoming smarter, saner and healthier all through the art of napping!”

“So now napping is an art?” I could see Steven wasn’t impressed with my napping facts as he adjusted his heating pad.

So, I decided to continue with my facts. “You know, we’re one of the few countries who don’t promote naps.” I was nodding my head hoping Steven would join me in agreeing with these facts. “Did you know Spain, Germany and Japan all believe naps help their citizens to be more productive.”

There was still no reaction from Steven.

I finally just shrugged my shoulders and gave it one last try. “It also helps me keep my weight down.”

Now Steven looked interested. “They have research on that?”

“Well, no.” I admitted. “But I’ve noticed that in the late afternoon when I’m craving a candy bar or a cup of tea, to get me going, a short nap makes the cravings go away!”

Steven shook his head and laughed. “So you’re answer to hunger is to take a nap?” He didn’t sound very impressed.

I pulled the afghan off the arm of the couch. “You seem to be a little cranky right now.” I tucked the afghan around his legs. “I’ve found a nap helps with that too.” I gave him a quick kiss on his forehead. “I’ll come back in 30 minutes to wake you up.”

“It sure smells good in here.” Steven said as he came into the kitchen.

I was just taking the banana bread out of the oven. “It should be ready for me to make it into French toast as soon as it cools.” I flipped it out of the pan and onto a cooling rack. “While we’re waiting for that to happen would you like some soup and a grilled cheese?”

Steven looked surprised. “Sure! That sounds great!”

I began pulling all the things I needed out of the refrigerator and cabinets. While I was pulling the frying pan out of the drawer Steven was looking out our kitchen window. “I can’t believe how hard it’s snowing. It really is a blizzard!”

I turned around to see for myself. “I’m sure glad I filled the bird feeders yesterday.” I could see through the blowing snow that dozens of birds were frantic waiting for their turn to get food. “I don’t want anyone going hungry in this weather.”

“That’s good news for me!” Steven got the silverware out of the drawer and grabbed some napkins to set the table.

“I’m going to make a pork tenderloin and scalloped potatoes for dinner.” I put the grilled cheese in the pan and turned the heat up under the soup.

“That sounds good.”

I went back to the cabinet. “Maybe I should make some brownies for dessert.” I pulled the box from the shelf. “Or maybe oatmeal cookies.” I was holding both packages, showing them to Steven for his vote.

Steven shrugged his shoulder. “They both sound good to me. Whichever one you feel like making.”

I put both boxes down on the counter top, grabbed the spatula and flipped the sandwiches. “Why is it that every time it snows, all I want to do is cook?” I ladled the soup into bowls and took them over to the table.

Steven shook his head as he picked up his spoon. “I have no idea, but I have to say I’m not complaining.”

I brought the sandwiches to the table. “I also got chips and salsa in case you want a little snack before we go out and start to dig out.”

“Thanks.” Steven took his sandwich and dipped it in his soup. “But it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop snowing anytime soon.”

We both looked out the window, we could barely see the bird feeder it was snowing so hard.

“I think you’re right.” I was waiting for my soup to cool so I got up and went to the cabinet to pull the crock pot out. “Maybe I’ll start a pot of sauce.” I looked in the refrigerator and saw we had hamburger meat. “Maybe a bolognese sauce?” I looked over at Steven to see what he thought.

“I thought you were making a pork tenderloin for dinner?”

I put the crock pot on the counter and went over to eat. “I am but I like the way the house smells when I have a pot of sauce on.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I’ll just freeze it for another day.”

Steven shook his head and laughed.

“You know I get this way on a snow day!” I laughed as I took a bite of my sandwich.

Alex walked into the room. “Is that banana bread?” He was looking at the bread cooling on the rack.

“It sure is!” I jumped up and went to get a pan. “Do you want your banana bread French toast now?”

Alex looked at Steven eating his soup and sandwich then at my uneaten meal. “Don’t you want to finish your lunch first?” he asked me.

“I’m not really hungry.” I pulled a knife from the drawer. “I just feel like cooking.” I grabbed the banana bread and began slicing it. “Do you want some almond extract in the egg batter?”

Alex sat down at the table where I’d been sitting. “Sure if you want.”

Steven looked at Alex and smiled. “Don’t you just love this part of snow days?”  

I was busy flipping through a magazine and tearing out pages that interested me when Steven walked into the room. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m getting pictures for my vision board.” I ripped a picture of tulips from a page and placed it on the coffee table. “This one’s for my trip to Holland this spring.” I crossed my fingers and looked at Steven. “But anything could happen so I thought if I put it on the board it will definitely come true.”

“What’s a vision board?”

“I’m glad you asked that! Because I hadn’t heard of it either until about 20 minutes ago!” I was flipping the pages and saw a jar of money. “Oh that’s definitely going on the board!” As I was ripping the page out I looked over at Steven. “I was on the phone with my girlfriend Anna Marie and she said a friend of ours is doing one. It’s where you make a board of things you’d like to see happen in the coming year.”

Steven started to laugh. “So a picture of money is going to have us make more next year.”

“Hey…” I looked over at Steven and shrugged my shoulders. “Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.” I tore out a picture of the beach and held it up for him to see. “Maybe a trip to Cape May will be in our future next summer.” I placed it on the coffee table next to all my other dreams and hopes.

“How big is your board going to be?” Steven looked at the growing pile on the table.

“I figured I’d collect everything that interested me and decide later.” I grabbed the next magazine off the pile and began leafing through it. “Do you want to make one with me?”

Steven laughed and shook his head. “No, I think I’m good, thanks.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Suit yourself, but I’m getting a good feeling about this upcoming year.” I ripped out the word MEDITATION. “Oh, I can definitely use more of that!”

“So where did this idea come from again?”

“It seems Oprah talked about it years ago when she read the book The Secret. She does one all the time.” I looked up at Steven. “Clearly I live under a rock because it’s the first I’m hearing about it.”

I kept flipping through the magazine. “Now I just have to find a typewriter to remind me to write more.” I stopped at a page. “Oh! Yoga!” I began ripping. “I should really get back to doing that!”

“So where are you planning on hanging it?” Steven leafed through the pile I’d already collected.

“I’m thinking about taping it to the inside of our closet door.”

I looked over at Steven and could see he seemed surprised. “Why there?”

“Because I’d see it every morning while I was getting ready for work and it would remind me to think about it during the day.” I smiled at him. “Then I’d see it again at night and I could go to sleep visualizing it for my dreams.”

“So I get to see it while I’m getting dressed too?
“Exactly! That’s just a perfect bonus for me!” I collected up my pile to begin sorting through them.

“How’s that a bonus for you?” Steven looked confused.

“Well, seeing that you’re not doing one for yourself maybe you could look at mine, while your getting ready in the morning, and cheer me on with mine!”

Steven shook his head. “Whatever happened to plain old New Year resolutions?”

“I’ve never been able to keep those.” I reached for the scissors. “That’s why I’m hoping this might do the trick this year!”

I was in our laundry room, busy wrapping some last minute gifts, when my husband Steven came into the room. “How’s it going in here?” he asked as he looked over my shoulder to see what I was wrapping. I’d set up my wrapping station on my ironing board.

“I’m almost finished.” I said as I went through my ribbon box to see what I had left. “Of course, I said I was almost finished a week ago but then I keep remembering just one more thing.” I sighed.

“Speaking of one more thing, is there anything special you want for Christmas?” he asked. “It’s been bothering me for days. I’ve got a few small things for you but I can’t come up with anything that says ‘Wow’.”

I looked over and could see how concerned he looked.

“Don’t worry about it.” I reassured him as I pulled out a red satin spool of ribbon. “You already got me a really nice Brighton set.”

Steven looked confused. “I did?”

“Yup.” I unraveled the ribbon watching it pool on the floor until I was ready to snip the length I wanted. “A couple of weeks ago, remember?”

“No.” He was leaned against the dryer trying to remember. “What’s a Brighton set?”

“It’s a brand name. They make purses and accessories.” I looked around for the scissors. “You got me a necklace, earring and bracelet set from them.”

“Did I order it on-line?” He was shaking his head. “I can’t believe I don’t remember.”

“You were going to but I wanted to pick it out myself.” I twisted the ribbon around the box. “We talked about this a few weeks ago when you couldn’t think of anything to get me. I was headed to the mall so I told you I would pick it up.” I’d tied a knot in the ribbon. “Can I borrow your finger for a minute?” I stepped to the side so he could hold down my ribbon while I made the bow.

“Well, did I pick out a nice set?”

“It’s beautiful.” I leaned over and gave him a kiss. “You have very good taste.”

“Can I see it?” he laughed as he looked around the laundry room where I’d been stashing the presents that needed to be wrapped. “I’d like to see what I got you before Christmas morning.”

“Sorry but it’s already ready wrapped and under the tree!” I smiled at him as I looked around for a name tag for the gift I was wrapping.

“You had to wrap your own present?” Steven shook his head. “That’s just sad.”

“No.” I said quickly. “The store offered free wrapping so I thought I’d save you the trouble.”

Steven leaned back against the dryer again. “Well, I have to say it was an easy shopping year for me.”

I held up my wrapped package. “I’m glad.” I headed for the living room with the gift. “Another one ready for under the tree.”

“Oh good, maybe you could point out the one I got for you.”

“Sure.” I put the new gift under the tree then picked up my gift from the front of the tree and handed it to him. “You wanted to see how they gift wrapped it?”

Steven took the tissue paper filled gift bag and peeked inside. “I want to at least know what the package looks like so I can hand it to you on Christmas morning.”

I smiled as I took the bag from him and placed it back under the tree. “You’re very thoughtful.”

Alex was sitting at the kitchen table, peeling an orange when I came into the room. “Oh my gosh, that smells so good.”

Alex pointed to the bowl of oranges sitting on the counter. “A whole bowl of them showed up today if you want one.”

“Showed up?” I had to laugh. “Who do you think bought them and put them in that bowl?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders and laughed. “Well, now that you mention it I guess that would be you.” He’d finished peeling it and handed me a segment.

“Thanks.” I took a bite and it tasted as good as it smelled. “You know every time I smell an orange it reminds me of Christmas.”

Alex looked confused. “Why?”

“Because we didn’t have oranges very often, but we’d get one in the toe of our Christmas stocking every year.” I smiled at the memory. “All my brothers and sisters would dump our stockings out and I don’t know about them, but the first thing I would do is peel that orange.”

I looked over at him and saw the confused look on his face. “What?” I asked.

“You got an orange in your stocking?”

“Sure. We got an orange and an apple.”

“Well, that’s just sad.” He said biting into another segment. “Your parents just emptied out the fruit bowl from the counter?”

“No.” I corrected him. “We didn’t have a fruit bowl on our counter. In fact it was a big treat to get the oranges.”

“Why?”

I had to think about it for a moment. “I don’t know.” Now I was confused. I picked up the phone and called my sister. When she picked up and didn’t even bother saying hi I just raced right into the question I wanted to ask. “Was it weird that we got oranges in our stockings?”

“No.” she answered. “I thought it was a sweet tradition. In fact, just the smell of an orange makes me think of Christmas morning.”

“Me too!” I cried. I looked over at Alex. “See, your Aunt thought it was a sweet tradition too.”

Alex didn’t look convinced. “I’ll pass on the orange in my stocking, thanks.” He looked over at the bowl on the counter. “If I want an orange I’ll just get one from the bowl.”

My sister had overheard him. “Tell him that when we were kids oranges were expensive and there were seven kids in our family so getting an orange in our stocking was a treat.” I said.

“I’m not telling him that.” I whispered.

“Why?”

“Because now I feel like a Grandpa telling a story about how he had to walk three miles to school, in a blizzard, with a hole in his shoe!”

“Well, it’s the truth.” she reminded me.

I looked at Alex as he collected up the orange peels and went over to the garbage to throw them out.

“Oranges were just a sweet tradition our parents had that they passed on to us.” I told him.

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “Well, thanks for not passing that tradition down to me.” he closed the drawer to the garbage. “I’m pretty happy with gift cards and candy.” he gave me a kiss on the top of my head. “We should make that our tradition.”

I watched him walk down the hall then went back to the conversation with my sister. “Somehow the tradition I’ve started doesn’t seem nearly as sweet as the one we grew up with.” I said with a sigh.

“What are you up to today?” my husband Steven asked as he passed through the living room where I was cuddled up on the couch playing a game of Solitaire on my phone.

“Oh, I have a long list of things I have to get done today.” I said as I reached for my cup of tea and took a sip. “I want to get a few things at the mall, then go grocery shopping, laundry and I promised Alex I’d bake a cake for dessert tonight.” I pulled my robe tighter around my neck and settled back to finish my game. “I just want to finish this last hand of Solitaire.”

“Well you better get started soon if you’re going to get all that done in one day.” Steven sat down next to me a reached for the newspaper.

“I know. That’s why I got up early today.” I put my phone down next to me and leaned back to stretch out my back.

“Well, it not early anymore.” Steven nodded over to the clock on the table.

I glanced over. “Eleven-thirty! Are you kidding me!” I sat up and squinted to make sure I was seeing the right time. “What happened to the morning?”

Steven laughed as he picked up my phone, took a quick look at it, then held it up for me to see. “Well, seeing that your battery is almost dead I’m going to say you were busy on your phone.”

I took the phone from him and checked it myself. “It can’t be.” But sure enough the battery had a little sliver of red left. “Wow.” I shook my head.

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “That’s a lot of time playing Solitaire.”

“Hey, even I couldn’t play Solitaire for three hours.” I countered.

“So what else have you been doing on your phone?” he asked as he looked over the front page of the paper.

I thought about it for a moment. “Well, when I first got up, before I even got out of bed, I checked my e-mail. Then I moved on to Facebook to see what everyone’s been up to since I went to sleep…”

Steven nodded. “Ah hum.”

“Then I checked my Horoscope App to see what kind of day I’m going to have.”

Steven looked confused. “Do you really believe in that?”

“Well, no.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Not really, but it’s always nice when it tells me I’m going to have a good day.”

Steven finished scanning the newspaper, dropped it back on the coffee table, and looked over at me. “Well you better get going if you want to get to all the things on your list done today.”

“You’re right.” I picked up my teacup and brought it out into the kitchen, then went back into the living room to scoop my phone up off the coffee table along with it’s charger. “I’m going in to take a shower.”

“If you’re going to take a shower, why do you need your phone?”

“Because I’m going to charge it in there and play another hand or two of Solitaire while the shower’s heating up.” I said as I slipped the phone and charger into the pocket of my bathrobe.

Steven groaned. “Great. An hour from now you’ll still be playing Solitaire in there and all the hot water will be gone.”

I smiled and I put one hand on my heart and the other up in the air. “I swear I’ll only play two hands while the water gets warm.”

Steven didn’t seem convinced. “I’ll check on you in five minutes to make sure.”

I shrugged my shoulders and knew I really couldn’t argue with him. “Yeah, maybe you should.” I admitted.

“Yes!” I cried as I looked at the text on my phone. “I’m the first again this year!” I smiled as I looked over at my husband Steven, who was sitting next to me on the couch.

“First? What?” he asked as he muted the television and moved a pillow behind his head.

“I was my sister’s first Christmas card.” I leaned back and smiled.

“Okay, well congratulations.” Steven didn’t sound very impressed.

“Hey, do you know how early you have to send the cards out to be first nowadays?”

Steven just shook his head. “Nope, not a clue.”

“Before Thanksgiving!” I cried. “It’s ridiculous! I used to be able to mail them the day after Thanksgiving and I’d be first, no problem. Now I have to start a week before!” I looked over at him and shook my head. “I couldn’t even find cards this year. No one had them out yet. It took me three stops just to find some!”

“So why do you do it?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Because it’s tradition.”

“Tradition?”

I put my feet up on the coffee table. “Okay,” I admitted. “It’s my tradition.” I took the pillow that was behind me and tossed it further down the couch. “I remember the first time it happened. My sister called and said I was her first card.” I smiled at the memory. “I don’t know what it was, but somehow I felt I had won.” I looked over at him. “I was first for a few years but then one year she said someone had beaten me.” I frowned. “That year was a very disappointing card year for me.”

I picked up my phone and smiled as I looked at my messages again. I held it up for Steven to see… “Any mail?” Was my text to her. Then I scrolled down to her answer: “She said her husband just brought it in, I’m their first again!”

Then I clicked on to my other sister: “Hi – I received your card today (along with 2 others) but I’m sure you were the first. Thanks!”

I looked at Steven. “She doesn’t get her mail everyday so I’m definitely saying I’m her first card too.” I settled back into the couch content with my win.

Steven pointed to the stack of cards on the coffee table. “So whose are those?”

“Oh, they’re everybody else’s Christmas cards.” The stack was next to my address book waiting to be done.

“But didn’t you just tell me you need to be the first card out?”

“I just finished telling you how early everybody else is sending them out! If I tried to be everyone’s first card I’d have to start writing them out the day after Halloween!”

“So you only did your two sisters?”

“Hey,” I shrugged my shoulders. “They were the only ones that ever noticed I was the first.”

“So you cheated?”

“No! What are you talking about?” I was sitting up now, feeling offended. “That’s not cheating!”

Steven looked doubtful as he reached for the remote and turned the sound back on the television. “If you say so.”

I sat back and thought about it for a moment. “Okay, I cheated.” I admitted. “But this was the first year I ever did that! I swear.”

Steven just patted me on the knee. “Whatever you have to tell yourself is fine with me.”