On Monday, I put Christmas away. It's always bittersweet. I am sad to see the season be over, but I am ready to get my house back. I will also admit I'm not a fan of the 21 plastic tubs up the stairs. Some are heavy, as I have lots of books that get packed away to make room for Santas, snowmen and nutcrackers. It's always challenging to figure out how to pack the tubs so that everything fits. I'm always moving things from this tub to that tub and crossing my fingers that the lid will latch.
My husband usually helps me by being a tub lugger. The rule of thumb is as soon as a tub comes upstairs, the lid comes off. Once a tub has been packed and ready, the lid goes back on so he knows what he can take downstairs and what needs to be stepped over or around. However, this year, I did it on a weekday and Michael was not home.
I was proud of myself for having everything packed and all the tubs put back downstairs. On Tuesday, I started putting the regular stuff back where it belonged. On Wednesday, I brought the trash cans in from the curb (Wednesday is trash day) and continued working on putting order to the chaos. I realized I was missing about 12 books, some antique bottles, a sailing trophy and a few items we had picked up in our travels over the years. I knew I had emptied every tub but had some extra newspaper and 2 empty boxes that I had thrown out. Could I have accidentally thrown out the missing items? I got that uneasy feeling but didn't have time to worry about it.
Thursday, I decided to tackle the tubs. I HAD to find my stuff. I know it sounds trivial, as it is just stuff, but it is MY stuff and I like MY stuff...some old books from my grandfather, a trophy from the first sailing series I sailed as a married woman (yes, when they announced the skipper, my dad, and then me as crew, they used my married name and I yelled, hey, I was Dad's crew, who is this other Michèle chick...and my husband said, sweetie, we are married, you aren't Michèle Nolin anymore, you are Michèle Wood. Go get your trophy. Okay, so it took me a while to get into the married groove), a really cool loon sculpture we found on a ski trip to Mont Tremblant and a hand blown glass piggy bank I purchased in Austria, filled with Austrian shillings.
I went into the cellar and stared at the 21 tubs packed to the brim with Christmas decorations. I grabbed the first tub and started poking through it. Nothing. As I continued to search , I realized that I didn't do a very organized job packing, but the Christmas decorations were all put away and I wasn't dealing with repacking, I needed to find the missing stuff. I struck gold on Tub #7. The books, the bottles, the trophy, the bank and the loon, all there, wrapped in newspaper. Apparently, I'm my own worst enemy. I didn't follow my own rule and caused myself stress and extra work. But, I found my things and could breathe easier.
After putting everything back, I went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea. I happened to glance at the dining room table and saw 2 gingerbread men, a contruction paper snowman and 3 Santa hats on the table. They had gotten missed. I was NOT digging into the tubs again. We shall see how long the orphaned Christmas decorations float around the house, getting moved her and there.....stay tuned!
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