Post-Holiday Recovery!

It’s December 31… Christmas is now behind us. We spent 9 of the last 11 days with friends and relatives. We had lots of visitors, cooked and ate lots of food, talked, played games and watched a couple of Christmas movies. We really enjoyed spending time together with our loved ones. We also exchanged gifts. We generally try to downplay the “gift” aspect of Christmas for our kids, trying to focus their attentions on the giving end of things more than the receiving, but they do still get a fair amount of gifts from their very generous grandparents, aunts and uncles! By the last round of visitors, we were swimming in a sea of legos, toy cars, books, clothes, art supplies, craft kits, etc, etc! My kids, of course, are thrilled to have all these new toys, and I am thrilled, too, as occupied kids are happy kids!

But… once all the wrappings were cleared away, the relatives were gone and the last gingerbread cookie had been eaten, we entered the “Where to Put the Stuff” phase of Christmas. I actually don’t mind this part, as it gives us a good reason to clean and organize our toy storage areas! I have posted about organizing kids stuff before (see here and here) and in those posts I mentioned our rule about getting rid of old things as new things come into the house. With five children sharing two small bedrooms, this is absolutely essential! This year, we had one large bag and two boxes of stuff to donate, and two bags of stuff to toss. From there, we switched up a few storage bins, reorganized a few things, and found places to put the new stuff. I’m pleased to report that we now have everything tidy and organized once again!

December 31 also means that we are preparing to say goodbye to 2012, and to welcome a New Year, full of promise and hope for health, happiness and prosperity. Now is the time to think about the Blessings of the past year, and to make plans for the future.

Happy New Year to all!