Saturday, January 03, 2009

Cleaning Up - Taking Down....

Saturday was both a lazy day and a screaming productive day. Mike was out and about until 2 a.m. on Friday night. He did this so that he could avoid the office on Saturday and spend the day with us. EVERYONE slept in - long and deep.

Jared took Arielle and Nolan and they went in search of a yard to rake. They found one "customer" who paid them $20 to rake her front yard. I'm not sure what the younger two needed the $ for but I know that Jamin and Jared are considering a mission's trip in March. (Meanwhile, back in Spokane BreAnne reports 5 feet of snow and shoveling the church roof).

We were blessed to receive a call from old local friends, Ian and Becki. Ian said they had two hours before they had to hit the highway. We quickly made plans for them to come by for a BBQ and visit. Would you believe when they got here three of their little ones were asleep? We know what its like to travel on a "schedule" with little ones. I visited with Becki quickly, hugged necks, Zander played with Nathaniel and I got to hold Elizabeth, the baby. Then they were off for the highway to get as far as possible while the little ones slept.

Mike and Jared returned from the store (picking up meat for BBQ) and we began to take down decorations. There are no photos. We were focused on work - even I. ::snort:: Mike took the boys and Stacia outside. We women tackled the inside. By 7 p.m. it was done. I chuckled at the little touches of Christmas we left out. I always leave a nativity out. The family asked me to leave the Jesus stocking out for use throughout the year. I leave little white lights on some scrubby pine in the corner year round. Arielle wanted to leave the snowmen out. I've developed an ATTITUDE about winter in TX. It's NOT winter...forget the snowmen and flakes...think leaves and lady bugs. ::snort::

Leaving Christmas out - that could be a separate post. I do this deliberately to remind us that Christmas is a season of the heart and not the calendar. Yesterday, I realized that taking down decorations in our home often meant, "going back to Faith Academy" or some such farewell. I wonder if THAT is another reason that I leave a bit of Christmas out year round - it reminds me of family who isn't nearby. Enough analyzing.....I can tell I've been reading a self help book. ::snort::

Something is missing? All my trashy treasures...the old gold pan, the old railway spikes, the gone fishing sign and the old fishing pole.....I sort of like the empty look but will look for things tomorrow. LOL
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I spent much of the day jumping on google docs - trying to send our United Order form. Deadlines are looming and more than 1/2 our group doesn't have their order form. Grrrr... "server error".

As usual, something is found after all the boxes are in the attic.
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This year it's Bartholomew's Passage, the camel from Kuwait given to Mike for our Nativity by one of the interpreters, and the donkey from our Fisher Price Nativity. I put the Fisher Price Donkey with the Willow Tree nativity that we left out this year. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

4 comments:

Debbie said...

Wow, you sure did get a lot done. I had high hopes for today, but other plans stepped in. We do not put out many Christmas things and this year with Brian being away so long into December, it was even less, but we do still have up the tree, which will start shedding needles very soon. I hate to see it go, I love the real tree.

Cynthia said...

We always manage to leave something out as well.... we finished most of our cleaning up today.

Anonymous said...

I did clean-up last Friday when Tracy took the children to the base for skiing and tubing. MJ graciously let us leave out the manger scene snow globe she received from grandparents this year. We agree that Christmas is a year round remembrance.

I guess we're not done cleaning yet as the tree is still in the living room...boxed, but still there like a big bench!

Great job on all you accomplished!

berrypatch said...

Putting "Christmas" away can be tough. I'm still finding things here & there that I tucked in to spots. I'll need to find spots to stash them until next year. I wonder if I'll remember where I put them? ;-)