Today was day two of “Operation: De-decorate.” It’s never a quick process, but it’s taking longer this year, as we reorganize, re-label, and reconsider keeping some of the various decor we’ve purchased over the years. Our tastes have changed and we are moving away from the more eclectic look to something a bit more refined and sedated. (Yeah, I’m as shocked saying it as some of you long time readers are reading it.) That’s the great thing about life…we grow, we change, we make different choices. We have already filled 4 bins with Holiday item give-aways that will be offered up to friends, family, and anyone they know who may be interested. Hopefully, they will bring someone else the same joy it brought us. Next year, we will enjoy a less involved set up with a single tree and a few cherished favorites, and get our decorating and de-decorating down to a day or so each. That is enough. (And we really need to start paring down for when we win the lottery and buy our condo in Provincetown. We just won’t be able to find something big enough to house all our rural-life crap.)

We are both exhausted and spent from two days of packing and hauling things up and down stairs. Neither of us are spring chickens, nor particularly physically fit.  In addition, coming off of a long stretch of sickness and malnutrition, my energy levels are exceptionally low. If I push myself too hard, I will make myself sick again, so I set limits and try to pace myself, which is hard to do because I have a do-or-die git-er-done attitude…I’d rather push to get a crappy job done than drag it out.  Regardless, I have to acknowledge I’m older and less able and I can’t operate at the same level I have before.  I need to rest my weary bones, because we have another whole day of packing up to do, then we will clean house top to bottom before migrating our “every day” decor back up stairs. I suspect it will not all be coming back up (from the basement.) I am a collector and love my knick knacks and various statues and figurines, and our house has become a veritable safari land of Giraffes, but I’m really going through a  less is more phase and look forward to enjoying a more sparse look in the house, at least for awhile. Maybe even start rotating things out to keep the look “fresh” and spotlight a few items instead of overloading on everything. (Geez…it sounds like I’m the curator of a museum.) I’d love to give every room a facelift with a fresh coat of paint but that’s not going to happen any time soon.  It’s cheaper, easier, and faster to just keep the lights low and move a table or two around. 

Anyhoo, we are enjoying a quiet, restful evening, satisfied that we’ve made good progress over the last two days and the house is inching closer to normal. I do so love decorating for the Holidays, but I also love getting our house back to “normal.” 

Now, back to resting.