Christmas is officially over.....

[Ruth Ann Landry]

the tree is down and all put away...
i took the dgds to disney on ice this afternoon...part of their christmas..
my company left this morning...
my bedsheets are in the dryer (I'll get my bed back)...
there is enough NYeve food left for sandwiches tomorrow...
I have money in the bank (how did that happen?)...

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[ChristyB]

here too

went a little bit off the boat and kind of went crazy. Anyway all clean here too. Thank goodness I was losing my mind.
Now to just get the kids back to school

[troublesmom]

I have almost everything packed and ready to go in the attic. We are going to stow it away tomorrow. Too tired to do it today. I have 9 plastic bins, various sizes full, lots of boxes and all 4 trees packed and sitting in my craft room. I still have probably another box full to get packed in the morning but my snowmen are still out. I don't put them away until the middle of March.

[Sharonv]

Tomorrow - Monday is my day to get the house back in order..

[HappyHappyJoyJoy]

I've done nothing about putting Christmas stuff away.

I still need to get Christmas cards out. Miss Picky (me) didn't like ANY of the canned choices at Shutterfly, Costco, etc. and finally found some at shabbymissjenndesigns.com that would do. Of course, then, finding photos of the kids that looked good was another chore. I finally got the photos printed and now need to address the cards. Did I mention I LOST the list from last year? Another reason to wait until after the holidays/I'd received cards to do this. At least, this is the story I tell myself so I don't feel too guilty.

I don't want Christmas to be over! It was really good this year! I appreciate that now more than ever after having had some really bad ones. WAH!

[LadyJaine]

Wonderful Hubby carried the last of the boxes of decorations to the basement this afternoon.

Tomorrow, we go to Disney!

[Cathy]

I was so darn happy to get all the Christmas clutter put away for another year! My decorations for Valentines Day is next - but that only involves a heart table runner, a few glass bowls of candy hearts and a Snoopy heart flag outside! Cathy:)

[wchpeters]

Almost over--thank goodness!! I'm probably one of the few people who look forward to January. Am even scrapping a bit this p.m., a rare treat.

I will pack away the last 8 or so bins tomorrow, and sweep the upstairs. Twenty-plus bins and three trees are stored away already. I live with my 84 year old mom, who has 30 plus descendants, plus nieces, nephews and cousins in the area. She LOVES to cook and entertain the family, loves Christmas more than anything, and her birthday is 12/20--so who can say no to an elderly mother during her birthday/Christmas? She knows this and of course gets her way. Eight of the bins are nothing other than her various Christmas dishes/serving pieces.

We've entertained/fed/housed 36 different relatives at various points from the OSU/Mich. game the week before Thanksgiving through Christmas. And I work really long days in December. I'm solo re getting the place decorated and then in putting things away in January (where are the strong male relatives then??). She's always saying 'she's old, she wants to cook for the family because it will be her last Christmas to do all this', been saying it for years. It's a running joke in the family, but I think the joke's really on me!!

Jean Peters

[jfugina]

I have got to be one of the world's least fun moms for the holidays - any holiday. I absolutely HATE decorating. And more than hating decorating in the first place, I hate the clean-up. So unless I have someone coming over to help, I just don't do it.

And even though there's no holiday decorations to put away, I have been melting down all week over the disaster that my house has become. I can't stand the boxes and the packing material and the trash that can't go out because the bin is full and we have to wait another week. I can't stand that my kids have so many dang toys that there is nowhere to go with them without removing significant amounts of something else (speaking of things I have no help with). I need to purge, and if I were left ALONE for long enough, it would get done. But alas, it's just not happening.

I hate that I get this way, but seriously, every single year that goes by I enjoy the Christmas holidays less and less. Maybe when the kids are old enough to be truly helpful, my opinion will change. But right now, I live in a large house with three people (one toddler, one whiney helpless drama queen kindergardener and one husband) who have absolutely NO idea whatsoever how to pick anything up and put it away. And it makes me absolutely NUTS. Seriously. I was shaking so bad after just walking into the kitchen on Thursday that I couldn't even hold on to things, and broke two dishes. I need one of those de-cluttering people from HGTV to come over to my house and just start throwing stuff out on the lawn. 5000 square feet of clutter is what's going to drive me to Prozac.

Sorry for the rant.. but my holidays will officially be over when I can start to see floor again. And it doesn't look like that will be any time soon.

[ChristyB]

I have got to be one of the world's least fun moms for the holidays - any holiday. I absolutely HATE decorating. And more than hating decorating in the first place, I hate the clean-up. So unless I have someone coming over to help, I just don't do it.

And even though there's no holiday decorations to put away, I have been melting down all week over the disaster that my house has become. I can't stand the boxes and the packing material and the trash that can't go out because the bin is full and we have to wait another week. I can't stand that my kids have so many dang toys that there is nowhere to go with them without removing significant amounts of something else (speaking of things I have no help with). I need to purge, and if I were left ALONE for long enough, it would get done. But alas, it's just not happening.

I hate that I get this way, but seriously, every single year that goes by I enjoy the Christmas holidays less and less. Maybe when the kids are old enough to be truly helpful, my opinion will change. But right now, I live in a large house with three people (one toddler, one whiney helpless drama queen kindergardener and one husband) who have absolutely NO idea whatsoever how to pick anything up and put it away. And it makes me absolutely NUTS. Seriously. I was shaking so bad after just walking into the kitchen on Thursday that I couldn't even hold on to things, and broke two dishes. I need one of those de-cluttering people from HGTV to come over to my house and just start throwing stuff out on the lawn. 5000 square feet of clutter is what's going to drive me to Prozac.

Sorry for the rant.. but my holidays will officially be over when I can start to see floor again. And it doesn't look like that will be any time soon.

Oh Julie I feel the pain, more than you may imagine. I am ready to just go through the house with massive trash bags and throw everything away. It makes my stomach hurt. And of course No one sees it but you

[azemigh]

I have got to be one of the world's least fun moms for the holidays - any holiday. I absolutely HATE decorating. And more than hating decorating in the first place, I hate the clean-up. So unless I have someone coming over to help, I just don't do it.

And even though there's no holiday decorations to put away, I have been melting down all week over the disaster that my house has become. I can't stand the boxes and the packing material and the trash that can't go out because the bin is full and we have to wait another week. I can't stand that my kids have so many dang toys that there is nowhere to go with them without removing significant amounts of something else (speaking of things I have no help with). I need to purge, and if I were left ALONE for long enough, it would get done. But alas, it's just not happening.

I hate that I get this way, but seriously, every single year that goes by I enjoy the Christmas holidays less and less. Maybe when the kids are old enough to be truly helpful, my opinion will change. But right now, I live in a large house with three people (one toddler, one whiney helpless drama queen kindergardener and one husband) who have absolutely NO idea whatsoever how to pick anything up and put it away. And it makes me absolutely NUTS. Seriously. I was shaking so bad after just walking into the kitchen on Thursday that I couldn't even hold on to things, and broke two dishes. I need one of those de-cluttering people from HGTV to come over to my house and just start throwing stuff out on the lawn. 5000 square feet of clutter is what's going to drive me to Prozac.

Sorry for the rant.. but my holidays will officially be over when I can start to see floor again. And it doesn't look like that will be any time soon.

Julie, I really feel for you. My kids are grown now, but when they were little I had the same feelings some times. And, even though I have the best DH in the world he's a bit of a user and leave it as well. My solution? I took a big packing box and covered it with bright wrapping paper with a white band all around the top. The words "Clutter Jail" were printed all around the band. Then I wrapped a pringles can with the same paper and wrote Fines around it and cut a slot in the top. Then I set a deadline for the end of the day and if I found it after the deadline it went into the clutter jail. If they wanted it back it cost a quarter to get it out of the jail. It only took a couple of weeks of all of their allowances ending up in the Fines can and I didn't have to pick up anymore. The money from the Fines can was then distributed equally during a vacation for spending money.

[bethrich]

Julie I have one thought for you ... FlyLady!

[nchoney]

I'm usually a Christmas nut.... have a bunch of totes of decorations and ornaments.... but this year both of our schedules were incredibly hectic.... and we knew we wouldn't have any company coming over... and hubby's mom was going to be out-of-state over the holidays... so it was just the two of us for the very first time, ever.... .

So... I bought a little 3' tree and we put it up on a table.... I put just enough ornaments on it so it looks festive... and it was plenty for us to be in the spirit of the day....

It's still up.... we normally don't take it down til "Old Christmas" ... the Epiphany.... those 12 Days of Christmas were celebrated in this area and they've always celebrated "Old Christmas" on or around the 6th of January.... the celebration has fallen apart over the years.... but I still use this time to officially keep the tree up, etc...

So it's still Christmas at my house.... even if it is only a 3' tall tree... hahaha

[pbp908]

I have one tree left to put away - it's a 3' and I don't take the decorations off of it. Just put it in a huge bag and stow it in the closet. Then I need to pull the lights off of the roof and the back doors - that'll be the end of it. Thought I'd leave them up until 12th Night and then put it all away. I'll be so glad when the grandchildren leave and Chris goes back to school. I did eight loads of laundry yesterday and nobody helps with anything. I'm sick and oldest son keeps inviting people to come over - when he's not setting bonfires in the back yard. What part of "I don't feel well" do these people not get????

Sorry - off of my soapbox now.

Pam

[wchpeters]

I always have said that 50% of the people have to be miserable and work twice as hard in December so that the other 50% can have fun and be indulged. And, I think that the working 50% are all the female caretaker/moms. I haven't found a way out of it yet--can't leave the home Christmas-less with an elderly mother any more than the moms can for the kids. And, I do really enjoy the lights/decorations (once they are up, and before I have to put them away).

Note for next November--we'll start a 'caretakers support group' through December!!

Jean Peters