Un-deck the Halls

Well, it's January.  The holidays are over.  Time to un-deck the halls.  My mother's birthday is the 7th, so, since she hates having the tree up on her birthday, the Christmas tree has to be down by then.  I always leave the tree up through New Year's Day.  (Well, except for Christmas of '86 when my then-significant other bought me a real tree that was so dry, I had to take it down on Christmas day!  In the morning!)  This year, the tree (artificial) came down on the 4th.  It is packed up in it's box, still in the living room.  But then, there are a few boxes still in the living room.

The Great Clean-Out of 2010 is now, officially, the Great Clean-Out of 2011--The Saga Continues.  I still have a few Christmas decorations to put away yet.  There is also wrapping paper to put away.  I did a gross sort of the wrapping paper early in December.  I've been meaning to further refine and organize the wrapping paper, but so far, I haven't.  And the loose wrapping paper is on top of the box for the decorations that are still up.

So, in order to finish putting the decorations away, I have to move a few rolls of wrapping paper and some tissue paper.  I need to have the wrapping paper boxes that my daughter took into the back bedroom (soon to be her bedroom), and the other wrapping paper box in the living room so I can sort the paper.  One box, um, I think the red and green one, will be for Christmas wrap.  The plain white one, I guess, will be for general/birthday wrap.  Then there are smaller boxes.  One with bows and ribbon.  One with boxes, folded wrap, gift bags, etc.

I'm telling you, it's the OCD.  I could just move the gift wrap, pack away the rest of the decorations and deal with the gift wrap some other time.  I could do that.  I'll have to have a talk with myself.  Now, don't make fun of me.  Self-talk is an honest-to-goodness therapeutic method of dealing with stressors in our lives.  There are whole books written about self-talk.  Remember the Little Engine That Could?  Well, he did, and mostly because of telling himself "I think I can, I think I can."  Actually, counselors would advise that you say "I can."  It's more positive.  Whatever.  It works.  There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people that shop at the stores where I shop that, unknowingly, have benefitted from my self-talk.  I say things like "It'll be crowded, just be patient."  And "If you hurt that %#@, you could be arrested and thrown in jail."  Now I'm rather ambivalent about jail.  On the one hand, I'd have three meals a day that I didn't have to prepare.  On the other hand, I'd have to use a toilet in front of other people.  So, in order to not hurt anyone, I think of the toilet when I say "jail."

But I've digressed.  Oh yeah, the decorations.  And the gift wrap.  I'll get to it.  Tomorrow I have to take my mother to a doctor's appointment.  And it's her birthday.  (It was her choice to make the appointment on her birthday!)  Probably Saturday I'll put the rest of the stuff away.  Maybe.