My dear friend says confession is good for the soul. Here goes……

I still have Christmas decorations up. Inside and out. Now this is by no means the first time I have committed this offense. I think the latest my tree has ever stayed up was till Easter one March a couple of years ago. It becomes something I just don’t see any more. And the worst part about this year is that the tree isn’t in the public view of the house.


If you drove up to my house you might notice the boughs of evergreen and holly still hanging from the porch columns or on the back door light. You might think the regiment of nutcrackers aligned on the armour was just a quirky every season collection of our family’s. You might attribute the random pinecone rolling about on the floor to the fact that we live in the woods and curious children happen to bring in such “treasures” from the woods. But sadly there is a terrible secret hiding in my bedroom


A fully decorated Christmas tree!


One evening in late January my husband had invited some friends over. He’s great at getting the place ship shape for company. We should really entertain more often. Anyway instead of un-decorating the tree or simply leaving it where it stood – hey it was still January, a Christmas tree is still very acceptable- he and my oldest son drag it into our bedroom.


I was so excited to come home that day and see the tree gone from the dining room. Felt so grateful that he and the kids had actually completed a job that I always dread doing (and usually have to do all by myself). But imagine my deflation when I see it standing at the foot of my bed.


And I see it every morning I get up and every night as I go to bed. And you would think that this should serve as a constant reminder to take it down. But it’s more of a constant neon sign flashing in my face saying you have got to get this whole house simplified. So much STUFF everywhere that you can look at a fully decorated Christmas tree sitting in your bedroom till March and not really notice it. Well not notice it enough to do anything about it.  STUFF makes me grumpy.  Sometimes the thought of the STUFF can make me panicky or sick.  I need a clean sweep.


But I have designated this weekend as the weekend to de-Christmas the house. This will be our jump on spring cleaning!