We all have our quirks.
My mother likes to do some kind of laundry everyday, either by machine or hand. Somehow she's got to wash something. I don't remember this trait when we were growing up, but she does now.
Art feels he's got to run. His dad had his 1st heart attack in his 40's and then died of one at 69. Art therefore watches what he eats, exercises regularly and works hard to coax me to do it also. Oh yes... and let's not forget collecting t-shirts! Tons of t-shirts!
And me? OK, the kids and Art will tell you I have a ton of them. One of those quirks is that I like to put the holiday tree away as soon as Christmas is over. Art would like to leave it for a while. Mom doesn't care. The kids just didn't particularly like helping to clean everything up.
Why am I quirky this way? I guess I'm focused toward the new year. It's a Hawaii tradition that you clean everything for the new year. My mother will be cleaning and preparing to enter the new year with all debts paid, dust shaken out of the house, cupboards cleaned, food ready... and oh yes, everything laundered.
I like to finish projects so I can enter the new year... new.
I've got the closet caulking staring at me.
And oh... yes... back to the tree. Christmas is over and my brain is focused toward preparing for the new year.
Art rolls his eyes and helps me since he can't stand to see me agitated until everything is done. Besides, it will insure him having a happy new year.
My mother likes to do some kind of laundry everyday, either by machine or hand. Somehow she's got to wash something. I don't remember this trait when we were growing up, but she does now.
Art feels he's got to run. His dad had his 1st heart attack in his 40's and then died of one at 69. Art therefore watches what he eats, exercises regularly and works hard to coax me to do it also. Oh yes... and let's not forget collecting t-shirts! Tons of t-shirts!
And me? OK, the kids and Art will tell you I have a ton of them. One of those quirks is that I like to put the holiday tree away as soon as Christmas is over. Art would like to leave it for a while. Mom doesn't care. The kids just didn't particularly like helping to clean everything up.
Why am I quirky this way? I guess I'm focused toward the new year. It's a Hawaii tradition that you clean everything for the new year. My mother will be cleaning and preparing to enter the new year with all debts paid, dust shaken out of the house, cupboards cleaned, food ready... and oh yes, everything laundered.
I like to finish projects so I can enter the new year... new.
I've got the closet caulking staring at me.
And oh... yes... back to the tree. Christmas is over and my brain is focused toward preparing for the new year.
Art rolls his eyes and helps me since he can't stand to see me agitated until everything is done. Besides, it will insure him having a happy new year.
I'm with you: I'd like the tree put away immediately after Christmas Day. Ken's with Art: He'd like to keep it up for awhile longer, preferably until after the New Year. It becomes a little issue in this house every post-Christmas. I suspect Ken just doesn't want to get involved in the work of putting the tree away. I didn't get out as many Christmas things this year, though: not my Santa collection, not my angel collection, not as many ornaments on the tree, so getting un-Christmasy around here should be a whole lot easier.
ReplyDeleteNow, if we just can get all the other Americans to pay their debts before Jan. 1. . . dream on!
ReplyDeleteI am with you on wanting to get the tree down and everything put away before the new year. (Mine is all done.) I like the Japanese tradition of having everything clean for the new beginning.
ReplyDeleteIn some cultures Christmas isn't over until Three Kings Day. And some people procrastinate getting their tree down until spring. Seems like that's not YOU, Kay. I think it's great that you have already removed the Christmas decorations and put them away, getting ready for the new year. :-)
ReplyDeletehusbands seem to adjust to our quirks and we to theirs...that's what makes a marriage work. On to the new year...
ReplyDeleteSince I decorated my tree just ONE WEEK before xmas, I leave it up another week and take it down on New Year's Day.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was still working I wanted everything put away before I went back to school. that usually meant taking down the tree and decorations News year Day. Jake always hated that because he wanted to watch football, not dodge the vacuum cleaner.
ReplyDeleteNow that it's just Tom and me, we can do whatever we like, which means we'll leave everything up till new Years or there abouts, depending on when we want to face the big job of putting everything away. I do like the "clean" look of the undecorated house when it's all done, but I miss the lights.
It's fun to see how different some of us are and how much alike others are! I haven't even had a Christmas tree for over twenty years and other than a few holiday items and candles, I don't decorate at all -- not because I don't like Christmas, I love it and love the season. But I've moved so much in my lifetime that I try to keep the things I take from place to place at a minimum. And for me the spirit of the season was always enough to make me feel great and very happy. I love seeing other peoples decorations and I do have very happy memories of our Christmas trees and all the goodies of the season when my kids were growing up. I have loved following you and your families Christmas, Kay! Wishing all of you a very Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteSylvia
I absolutely agree with the idea of clearing out the old to make way for the new. That is with debts, cleaning, etc. not people, of course. Dianne
ReplyDeleteI am itching to put my tree away too, but my girls want me to leave it up till the new year. Not sure I will be able to comply...
ReplyDeleteI am a bit tired of the tree, but I am also comforted by it. Jim is still not feeling too well, so I have no idea when we will tackle the job of getting it down and put away. It is such a job.
ReplyDeleteToday, I will take down the little tree I put up for Julie. It is a live tree and must come down because it is dry. Besides, it will be a very easy job.
I wish I had the Japanese tradition in my. Getting rid of the old to make way for the new is a great thing. Perhaps, I just start with my desk.
Everything is taken down, but there wasn't much put up so it took only minutes. It's all loaded in the back of my car and I will try to head to the storage unit this afternoon and put it back in the prescribed boxes. You see, I have far more Christmas ware than I will ever use again at one time.
ReplyDeleteSounds very well organized and I am hoping one of my New Year's resolutions will be to be more organized!!!
ReplyDeleteI'd take the tree down Christmas day if I could get away with it. Instead we take it down the day after. I love the spacious, clean feeling once the tree and decorations are packed away.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you.
ReplyDeleteI'm not ready to take the tree or decorations down yet; that will wait until shortly after the new year. However, today I went around the house, gathering up things that were out of place. Trash went in the can, recyclables went in the bin, and everything else went where it belongs. It felt good to see the house straight.
ReplyDeleteNo, no, no...Christmas starts on the 25th and runs 12 days. I hate to say that.
ReplyDeleteHere we leave it up till we are bored with it. I'm not bored yet. :)
...PS; But what I do tidy compulsively is my hard drive. Yes, the house is neat and clean, laundry done, dishes done, tree still up, but I want to start fresh for 2012 on my hard drive. :) So I delete, I drag and drop to my external HD, and I would dust if I could. :)
ReplyDeleteStick with whats working !
ReplyDeleteAloha from Waikiki
Comfort Spiral
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I'm the same way, Kay. My tree goes up during my Thanksgiving break, so by the time Christmas is over, I'm sick of it and all the other holiday decor. I got mine down on the 26th and cleaned up. I've been loving my house ever since. It's so fresh and open now.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good plan..going into the new year with a clean house and slate... you commented about Canada geese and they are hunted and eaten by many hunter..You also asked about house finch and purple finch. If you see them together it's easy, but the purple finch is more raspberry colored with a crest on it's head and a more stocky bird. The house finch is more orangey I think...
ReplyDeleteHere we put our decorations up late, just a few days before Christmas, because they need to stay up for the twelve days of Christmas, until Epiphany. By which time I'm itching to take them down too, but then it's like a second New Year and the house gets a thorough going over and I might even feel the urge to go through a few cupboards.
ReplyDeleteI must have some Japanese in me , lol, this is the way I have always been, everything fresh and completed for new years,, I'm with you on this,,
ReplyDelete