‘Tis The Season…

     I don’t rush into decorating for Christmas.  For one thing, I want to enjoy Thanksgiving.  It seems a shame to leap straight into shopping and decorating for Christmas before one has even had time to digest one’s dinner, never mind contemplate one’s blessings.  Secondly, I like to leave my decorations up for the full 12 days of Christmas.  I enjoy them more if I save them for the actual Christmas time.

     This year, decorating is going to be a bit more leisurely.  Now that almost all of the boxes are down from the attic, I’m going to go through them as I put up the decorations and get rid of the ones that I no longer use.  As an unabashed sentimentalist (I even cry at commercials, sometimes!), I have a tendency to hold onto things that were gifts or have memories tied to people I love.  At this point, I have ornaments going back to childhood.  Some have got to go.  I know that this will make decorating a bitter-sweet event this year, but it is time to purge. 

     Does everyone have boxes full of chipped, cracked, slightly crushed  items that one just can’t bring oneself to throw away?  I have held on to way too many items, because the occasion or the giver is a cherished memory.  I’ve finally had time to realize that one doesn’t need the object to retain the essence.  I’ve decided that this is the year that I need to put some of these worn-out items to rest.  Will it be a clean sweep?  Of course not!  (I know myself too well to have unrealistic expectations in that department, although I know my husband is hoping-he’s the one who lugs everything up and down the attic steps!)  However, I’ve already seen several items that aren’t hugely sentimental that will not make the cut, and I have hopes that this will begin a reorganization, which will continue when it’s time to take things down.  I can’t keep everything; I have to set priorities and keep the best, and let the damaged or no-longer-valued items go.  That way, I can really enjoy what I’ve kept and have room for new ones as they come.