Christmas is Over

Well, it's over for another year, and like every other year, I'm a wee bit depressed. We still have our tree up, and though it will probably stay up until New Year's Day, I know the end is in sight. The hustle and bustle of Christmas is fun and happy for me, and I'm always genuinely sad, at first, to take it all down. But something happens once those first few ornaments end up in the box: I pick up speed to empty the living room and dining room of every last vestige of Christmas! When all the boxes are packed away again, I breathe a sigh of relief and look around at my simpler decor.

This year, we plan to take photos of each area of the house that's decorated and print out the pictures to tape on the boxes that will hold those displays and ornaments. Any Christmas item left out of boxes can then be placed in another set of boxes and labeled "Goodwill" or "Garage Sale" or "Trash". Whew! The older I get, the less decorating gets done and knowing I won't have to remember what goes where next year will be awesome! I'm thinking that even my hubby and son should be able to help me decorate NEXT year...of course, they haven't figured out that that's the motivation behind my "bright" idea, but...shhhh...what they don't know, won't hurt them.

It was a happy Christmas...Dad is still with us...Mom is relatively healthy...and all my siblings are still nearby...my hubby is in remission (yeah!)...and my son is doing well in homeschool and is still a sweet kid in spite of turning 16 (yeah!)..so I'm content. And that's a good place to be at the end of 2008!