Martha Stewart’s Holiday To-Do List – December 1 – Blanch carcass from Thanksgiving turkey. Spray paint gold, turn upside down and use as a sleigh to hold Christmas Cards. December 2 – Have Mormon Tabernacle Choir record outgoing Christmas message for answering machine. December 3 – Using candlewick and hand gilded miniature pinecones, fashion cat-o-nine-tails. Flog Gardener. December 4 – Repaint Sistine Chapel ceiling in ecru, with mocha trim. December 5 – Get new eyeglasses. Grind lenses myself. December 6 – Fax family Christmas newsletter to Pulitzer Committee for consideration. December 7 – Debug Windows 2000 December 10 – Align carpets to adjust for curvature of Earth. December 11 – Lay Faberge egg. December 12 – Take Dog apart. Disinfect. Reassemble. December 13 – Collect Dentures. They make excellent pastry cutters, particularly for decorative pie crusts. December 14 – Install plumbing in gingerbread house. December 15 – Replace air in mini-van tires with Glade "holiday scents" in case tires are shot out at mall. December 17 – Child-proof the Christmas tree with garland of razor wire. December 19 – Adjust legs of chairs so each Christmas dinner guest will be same height when sitting at his or her assigned seat. December 20 – Dip sheep and cows in egg whites and roll in confectioner’s sugar to add a festive sparkle to the pasture. December 21 – Drain city reservoir; refill with mulled cider, orange slices and cinnamon sticks. December 22 – Float votive candles in toilet tank. December 23 – Seed clouds for white Christmas. December 24 – Do my annual good deed. Go to several stores. Be seen engaged in last minute Christmas shopping, thus making many people feel less inadequate than they really are. December 25 – Bear son. Swaddle. Lay in color-coordinated manger scented with homemade potpourri. December 26 – Organize spice racks by genus and phylum. December 27 – Build snowman in exact likeness of Jesus. December 31 – New Year’s Eve! Give staff their resolutions. Call a friend in each time zone of the world as the clock strikes midnight in that country.
Tuesday, September 24