cleaning - grace grits and gardening

Confession. I enjoy putting away my Christmas decorations as much as I enjoy bringing them out of storage. Possibly even more. Soon after Santa visits, the tinsel begins to look tired. Decorations turn to clutter. This downward spiral happens quickly for me. By New Year’s night, I’m done.

On January 2, John and I removed the ornaments from the tree. This part is a bit nostalgic. We take a little extra time to reminisce over favorites—every ornament has a story.

Each year, I consider leaving out certain decorations for a few more weeks—those that lean toward winter rather than Christmas. Going from decorated to bare can be jarring, even for me.

This year I left out two snowmen related things. And what happened? We immediately received a dusting of snow. I’m not taking credit, but sort of I am. I also left glittery stars hanging from white branches in a vase. This was a complete oversight, but I’m okay with the stars for a while.

Our fir tree is now laying out on the curb in the frigid cold. From the front porch, I can still see a few sparkly icicles. It was a great tree.

The clean house feels a bit empty. After the holidays, there are always blank spaces that make me wonder what was there before Christmas? And since we haven’t been in this house all that long, I’m really having that problem this year.

In an attempt to add life back into the house, I snagged up this small houseplant at Lowe’s. At $4.99 on the clearance aisle, it was the only after Christmas sale item I bought anywhere:)

So how about you? How are you doing this first week of 2015?

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Musical Pairing:

Muddy Waters – Cold Weather Blues

Lately my writing has taken a back seat to cleaning. Let’s face it, a potential buyer doesn’t want to open a closet and be hit in the head with a box of wrapping paper. Although I consider myself to be a tidy, organized person, over time closets become cluttered. Drawers will barely close. The whole purging process is cathartic to me. I’ve found items I thought were lost forever. Mainly I’ve discovered there are things I don’t need more of EVER. Things I didn’t realize was hoarding. Such as…

Napkins.

Paper or cloth. All occasion. I can fully outfit a baby shower with boy or girl napkins. Thanksgiving, Halloween, New Year’s Eve. Book club. Football party. And Christmas? Oh my! I love to buy Christmas napkins at after Christmas sales. Three or four or five packages, at only $1.50 who can resist? I stick them in a drawer, and the next Christmas when our small family gathers, we use maybe six napkins. Maybe. You see the problem.

Here’s a sampling.

Apparently, I also hoard cheap sunglasses. I found a drawer full.

And gloves. Leather. Cashmere. Polka dot. Ski. Fingerless. Mittens. Razorback. Hand-knitted. Every color in the crayon box. (Gardening gloves don’t count. You can’t have too many.)

Now, back to cleaning. Our house officially goes on MLS tomorrow!

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

“Don’t own so much clutter that you will be relieved to see your house catch fire.”
― Wendell Berry

Musical Pairing:

ZZ Top – Cheap Sunglasses