It's a new year, but it feels an awful lot like the old one. We're still eating odd things at odd times, we're still sleeping in late and staying up late, we're stl in party mode, and the house reflects that.
Usually by the time January 1 rolls around, I am so ready to pack away the holidays. The tree bugs me. The red spangled decor looks like clutter. The cute window stickers are all in disarray and have long ceased to be cute. The stockings were hung with care, but now live in a wad on the floor. The camels and sheep have been played with thoroughly and their packs and bells are regularly rolling around underfoot. The pine boughs on the front porch look like something I picked out of a throwaway pile (wait, I did pick them out of a throwaway pile, but they definitely look worse now than they did a couple of months ago.). It's all a big mess.
But this year, it doesn't bother me so much. There's a messy pile of boxes still in the corner which houses the gifts Ben and Chris got, but when it leaves it means my boys leave, too. The big bowl of nuts is still on the coffee table (and I keep buying nuts to refill it) because the twins have learned to crack nuts this year and I like setting them work together and share. And they drop lots of nut meat in the shells bowl so I get to eat nuts for free! The tree is still up because Ben loves seeing the lights of his first Christmas home after two years in a third world country. There are pillows and blankets strewn all around three different rooms, but the visual cacophony means that we've all been cozy warm and snuggled up together while the weather has been in the single digits outside.
My home is a place to house my favorite people, not a museum (although sometimes it feels a bit like a warehouse!). I am glad I have this space to be together with this family of mine. I'll clean up the decorations... elsewhen.
