Last night, we began taking down our decorations, filling bins and stacking them away in our storage area for another year. We usually do it on January 1st, since we have the day off, but we procrastinated one day due to exhaustion. We finished the living room and kitchen, and have the dining room and bathroom left to do, which will be finished up tonight. It’s taking longer, since we have to work during the day. After everything gets put away, we have to clean house top to bottom and return all the non-holiday bric-a-brac about the house. (Despite the above image, we don’t have a live tree to throw out. Our trees are all artificial and pre-lit.)

De-decorating is not depressing for me. The process is a bit painful and time consuming (although less so, now that we have an established pattern and labeled bins to make both putting decorations up, and taking them down, more systematic and less chaotic,) but I am always happy to have the house back to normal, furniture replaced to its proper positions, and the normal lamps and lighting returned.

I have a 3 day weekend ahead of me and we have snow and sub-zero temperatures on the way, so it’ll be nice to have the house back in order and clean for a long weekend, hiding out from the cold, reading, indulging in various hobbies and activities, and relaxing by a roaring fire, with some cocoa thrown in for good measure.

And maybe a cocktail or two, as a reward for Work well done.