Out With The Old ... as soon as I get the energy.

There is nothing quite like the post holiday quiet. All the festivities are over and everything is a mess and that's OK. Now we have to get ready for New Year's, not that we do much partying or anything. But I fully embrace the concept of "Out with the old and in with the new." I have retained the services of Tim and his truck and he will be assisting me in spending the next few days going to The Salvation Army, the dump and anywhere else that might want some of our excess.

We are extremely crowded without the Christmas decorations up and the few weeks they are out make maneuvering impossible. It's funny how fast the Christmas decorations look cluttered. My husband and I disagree on this point. If I had my way I would have taken the tree down yesterday. He prefers it stay up until the Epiphany on January 6. We compromise and take it down New Years.

 I have already packed up extraneous decorations in an effort to reclaim some space in this overcrowded house. I also managed to get rid of some decorations that we just don't use. Every year there are dozens of ornaments that do not fit on the tree and we will not longer be storing those.

I am on a tear to get rid of things. For example, Maggie received a lot of lovely new clothes for Christmas. Yesterday I cleaned out her dresser and filled up a laundry basket with old clothes that either don't fit her or that she just doesn't wear. I need to do that to every closet and drawer in the house, but that will take years.

The problem is, the exhaustion from the holiday preparation and festivities, coupled with staying up all night to care for Maggie on Christmas Eve make it difficult to sustain my desired level of decluttering frenzy. If only I got the flame thrower I asked for. Decluttering would so much easier.

As an aside, I have to tell you about my best gift.  I was surprised when my sister Kate handed me a package because my siblings and I have not exchanged gifts for years. Kate and her family were looking at me expectantly. I reached into the bag and pulled out this sweatshirt.

You realize, of course, that I AM Aunt Sally. And for those of you who don't know, "Please Excuse my dear Aunt Sally is known as "PEMDAS", a mnemonic for remembering the order of operations in solving a mathematical equation, (parenthesis, exponent, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction.) As you can imagine, this was a huge hit with the nieces and nephews. I told them I plan to wear it to every graduation, wedding or any other special moment in any of their lives and stand on a chair waving at them in front of everyone.