Being a New Hampshire Housewife: The 12 Days of Christmas Cleaning

Well, twelve days from now, the first of my in-laws will be arriving to celebrate Christmas. It is so hard to believe that Christmas is just two weeks and a day away from today. I've only bought a few Christmas gifts and I'm also starting to freak out because I haven't even started my Christmas cards...I need to get with the program. This weekend Hunny and I hung up the rest of the outside Christmas lights and then went and picked out a beautiful Christmas tree! I'm pretty proud of this tree! We did a good job picking out a really winner this year! No big holes or gaps in the branches and it's so straight and tall. We brought it home and set it up Saturday and I put my pretty tree skirt around it and left the tree alone so it could unfold and open up before I put the lights on and decorated it. Saturday night I got really sick...I think I ate something that didn't agree with me at all. I went to bed around nine and didn't get up until around eight Sunday morning. I felt a little better and went downstairs to see if the cats had left the tree alone or not...At first, it appeared so...the tree was still standing and looked undisturbed....I then noticed the tree skirt was balled up. I figured that Fizzgig, the naughty one, had been playing with it. I got down on my hands and knees and started to readjust the tree skirt when my hand felt wet...yes...my cats had peed on my tree skirt. I knew it was Scout because she will pee on things when she is mad about something and I know she was mad because I didn't feed them before I went to bed because I was sick, plus, she ran away and hid as soon as I discovered it...she has no poker face. Totally disgusted and still feeling sick, I picked up the urine soaked tree skirt and put it in the laundry room sink. The tag of course said spot clean only, but I decided I would try to wash it anyway and see what would happen. I then turned my attention to the floor and cleaned and steam mopped it. Just as I finished cleaning the floor and went back to try to save my beautiful, expensive tree skirt, my other cat, Fizzgig, jumped out of the laundry room sink and ran off...leaving behind the largest pile of cat crap I had ever seen right on top of my once beautiful tree skirt. Insert A LOT of profanities. I rounded up both cats and sent them down into the basement, shutting the door behind them. I then bagged up my tree skirt and took it out to the trash...that'll teach me to buy nice things, having a Christmas tree, and for being sick and forgetting to feed two overweight felines....

Anyways, I just had to share that bit of Christmas cheer. I'm sure you all have had similar Christmas horror stories...But, back to what I wanted to post. THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS CLEANING! The first wave of in-laws will be arriving in 12 days and staying through Christmas. I decided that I will do a little cleaning everyday so I won't be running around the day before they arrive cleaning. There are some days where I only have a small task or two and then other that will be bigger. I plan on still doing my daily work as well so that everything stays clean. I love my husband dearly but he leaves a trail around the house wherever he goes, so I need to keep up with my daily cleaning. So here is my list of the daily cleaning to hopefully achieve a clean house for the in-laws' Christmas visit!

The 12 Days of Christmas Cleaning

Wash windows. I want to wash all the windows inside the house and the outside of the windows that face our front and back porches. 12/10
Dust all the light fixtures, ceiling fans and baseboards. I can't believe how gross and dusty all of our light fixtures and ceiling fans get and even though I'm sure no one would notice I know I would! I also want to tackle all the visible baseboards. I read online that using a dryer sheet to clean them collects all the dust and protects them from collecting dust again...it's worth a shot! 12/11
Pick up random items and find them a home or put them in the attic. We have so many odds and ends that get thrown into corners, on the spare bed, or laid on top of counters. I plan on using this day to find everything its appropriate home or put it up in the attic for the time being. 12/12
Clean between, under and behind all the radiators. Our home is heated through radiators and they collect tons of dust, so I plan on spending this day giving them a good cleaning all round. 12/13
Clean the Craft room. My craft room doubles as my closet so days where I'm tired or feeling lazy, my clothes just get thrown on top of a chair or my sewing machine. I'm planning on using this day to correctly put away all my clothes, shoes, purses, and crafting supplies. I need to dust the furniture, sweep, and steam mop the floor. 12/14
Being a Saturday I will just use this day to keep up with general cleaning and make sure everything I have done is still done. Hunny and I are planning on going to Vermont on this day, as well, to go shopping at the Vermont Country Store in Weston, VT. It is one of our favorite places to go. Such a beautiful part of the country and we love the small village it is in with all the little shops. We also found a Scottish pub in a neighboring town and love going there to eat haggis, skirlie, neeps and tatties. Don't knock it until you try it! So, so good! 12/15
Clean the Office. The office is totally Hunny's domain, but since it is still packed in boxes, it needs a good cleaning. My dear husband has a collection on soda bottles, food wrappers, and shred-able mail in there that needs to be thrown out. My MIL is going to be spending the night here that Saturday before Christmas so we need to move the twin bed from the frozen sleeping porch to the office so she can use it. She'll be staying at a hotel the remainder of her visit once my FIL and Hunny's grandmother show up. Hunny's 91 year old grandmother has a hard time with stairs so staying at a hotel would be easier for her then getting up and down our stairs. I'll also get to hear from my MIL on why we should flip the guest room with the office again. Yes, I know the office is a little bigger than the guest room (like a foot or two) but we have plans to get a hide-a-bed for the office so it can be used as a spare bed when needed. We aren't made of money so it'll have to happen when we can afford it. End of rant. 12/16
Clean Master Bedroom. Change the sheets, clean up any clutter, dust furniture, take out trash, sweep and steam mop floor. 12/17
Do laundry and clean Laundry room. I plan on doing laundry the week before as I always do but this will be the time I make sure all bed linens are freshly washed, towels are clean and soft and Hunny and I have all our clothes clean and put away. I plan on then doing a good cleaning of the washer so it smells and looks spectacular. When I clean the washer I usually run it through a complete cycle once or twice with a couple of cups of vinegar. It does the trick every time. I don't think anyone will need to use the washer, but you never know! I also need to straighten and organize the storage cabinet in there, sweep, and mop the floor. 12/18
Clean the Guest Bedroom and Hallway. I need to change the bed linens and wash the blankets, dust the furniture, sweep and steam mop the floor. I will then have to shut that room up because the cats love to sleep on the bed in there and I'd rather not have cat hair all over the pillows in the Guest Bedroom. The Hallway just needs to have the bookcase dusted, floors and stairs swept and steam mopped. 12/19
Clean the Foyer, Living room and Dining room. The Foyer should probably be called a Sitting room because it is really big. That's where we put the Christmas tree. I need the dust, sweep and steam mop in there. The Living room needs the same, a good dusting of the furniture and electronics, floor swept and steam mopped, plus a good cleaning of the fireplace. The Dining room needs to be dusted, swept and steam mopped, as well as be set up for our Holiday gathering. The extra leaf needs to be put in the table and the buffet needs to be set up with the coffee maker and hot water dispenser for tea and cocoa and the serving pieces cleaned and ready for holiday treats! 12/20
Clean the Kitchen and Bathroom. The kitchen needs to have all of the appliances scrubbed, counters cleaned, walls washed, and floors swept and steam mopped. The Bathroom will be cleaned right before the guests arrive, like when I see them coming down the street! Because I know as soon as I clean the bathroom my wonderful husband will go in there and shave or somehow mess it up! The bathroom needs a deep cleaning. Tub scrubbed, toilet freshened and counter and sink sparkling! Ending it all with a good sweep and steam mop! 12/21

There you have it! This is my holiday cleaning list and I hope to get it all achieved by the time my guests arrive. On top of all this cleaning I need to finish Christmas shopping, make cookie platters to take to our neighbors, figure out if I want to hand write my Christmas cards or just do a photo card, plan meals for our holiday gathering, and go grocery shopping for it! I'm tired just thinking about it!

I'm going to wrap up this post with a couple pictures from our wedding! We finally got our wedding pictures back from the photography and I love them!