Am I the only one a little overwhelmed with the aftermath of Christmas? January is such a hard month for me. Even after six weeks of non-stop Christmas preparation and decorations, I’m not ready to see it go. Our stockings are still hung and the tree is wilting in its stand, but I still can’t seem to put the ornaments away. I’m torn between clinging to the holiday season and looking forward to a fresh start in a brand new year.
For days after Christmas our house was in flux. Gifts were still piled up in every corner, our trash cans stuffed to the brim with crumpled up wrapping paper and endless amounts of ribbon. The coffee table was shoved up against the bookcase, where we moved it before Santa delivered his loot.
Cardboard boxes loaded with baby doll clothes were stacked three high in the playroom. Puzzles were piled on the floor. Board games were spilling out of their boxes and barbies were scattered as far as the eye could see. New ornaments that I thought could wait until next year kept finding themselves unboxed and unwrapped and hanging precariously from random locations.
We had new clothes and nowhere to hang them. A new blanket that we considered the new “pink” for about thirteen seconds before wrapping ourselves in unraveling threads. Gift bags were stuffed with stocking stuffers. Body wash and crayons, movies and notebooks, dominoes and house shoes.
There were unfinished art projects. Pizzas made from play-dough, scrapbooks and watercolors covered every flat surface in the house. Window sills were stacked with prescriptions and thermometers and empty soda cans. The sofa table held take-out containers and emptied coffee cups.
We were piled under cozy blankets, pieced together by our grandmothers. We snuggled in cozy socks and under cold puppy noses. There was an endless stream of chatter — Christmas music, Disney movies, seasons of Netflix episodes and little girl giggles.
And then we all took a deep breath and decided we were ready for fresh air. Clean closets and folded laundry, bicycles that lived OUTSIDE instead of at the foot of our beds. We painted bedroom walls and organized toys. The barbie house got relocated and we cleared out a tiny closet just for dress up clothes. The dining room buffet got emptied and years of crusty paints and crinkled paper made way for fresh markers and new rolls of washi tape. We organized our house and at the same time, cleared our minds.
I’m ready for a fresh start. Not for resolutions and whole house makeovers, but for a new purpose, a clear calendar and a few quiet nights at home together with my people. We did such a good job of saying no last year. We slept in on the weekends and fought hard to be lazy. We spent an awful lot of time at home together and made all kinds of crazy good memories in far off places. Sometimes I let myself feel guilty for all the things we’re not doing, but then I think about all of the wonderful things I am doing instead. We’re making pallets in the playroom and eating boxed mac & cheese while we watch Aurora for the seventy-sixth time. We’re twirling in tutus while the laundry piles up and we’re having dance parties in the car on the way to dinner.
In the aftermath of a disorganized home and crazy, busy schedule we’re looking for a little respite. I’m not making any tangible resolutions this year, but I’m trying to clear my schedule, clear the countertops and clear my head. I want to be more intentional with my time this year and really spend some quality time with my girls while they’re seven and four. I want to make sure I don’t look back on busy Saturdays and wonder what my kids were even up to.
** just for the record, these photographs were all taken on a sunday afternoon while we emptied every nook and cranny of the girls’ rooms and started fresh. we don’t normally store every single toy we own on the floor for the world to see! **
