Vanishing Act

Remember homework? How it took endless hours to finish after school when you'd rather be playing outside and then somehow only took two minutes to correct it in class? Similarly, dinners take an hour or so to cook and get scarfed up in less than fifteen minutes. And don't even get me started on holiday dinners which are all-too-fresh in my brain cells! One day to bake pies and veggie casseroles. One day to bake our traditional egg bread and to set the table. And then an entire morning fussing (with love, but still fussing) over everything else. And how long does it take to disappear? Yeah, it evaporates pretty quickly after all that time and effort.

Christmas decorations are kinda the same way, only in reverse. It took me a mere day to deck the halls and the fireplace and the bookcases and the china cabinet and the...well, you know. (Because less is not more at our cottage. My philosophy is that if a Little is Good, then More must be Wonderful. And if More is Wonderful, then Lots will be Magical!) So, if it only took a day to put up, why does it take a whole entire week to take it all down? A week of sofas cradling sorted collections of tree ornaments, Santas, snowmen, and holiday mugs. Seven days of snowflakes, tinsel garlands and nativity sets on the dining table. The cottage looked like a flea market exploded indoors. My brain wanted to set sail for Cancun and leave it all behind for elves to tidy up.

The debut of the weekend lent me a desperate inspired burst of energy. All the Christmas goodies have disappeared into their crates and are OUT of the house. The carpet is free of tinsel and every surface is dust-free and polished. My songbird collection is cheering up my kitchen windowsill and little terra cotta angels have emerged. Paintings banished to make room for holiday wallhangings glow in their new locations.

I'll drag the dog crate away from the stairway closet tomorrow and bring out red and pink tulips (silk--it's only January after all). Meanwhile the snow and ice are melting ounce by ounce and actual plants with actual leaves are showing themselves. Today I was thrilled to notice the mini-daffodil leaves pushing their way towards sunlight along the front path...thoughts of springtime and seed catalogs have invaded my daydreams...it's so nice to stitch on flowery projects...the cherry buds are starting to swell ever so little.

The warmth and love of Christmas are lingering happily while the clutter has vanished.