I'm not really one for making New Year's resolutions. I tend to just carry on with trying to improve on various areas of my life, and New Year's is just another day in that direction.
As I look around my house a week after Christmas though, I can understand why for some people it might be a time to make a New Year's resolution against clutter.
I have a stack of unused rolls of wrapping paper in my dining room, waiting to be put away till next year. Tipping over onto this stack are some empty boxes from Christmas morning. They are also waiting.
Having raised a family of five children, perhaps it's not that surprising that when I'm cooking or baking for a group of people I generally make too much. And the looks of my kitchen counter and dining table will attest to this tendency to overdo.
Mental note to self -- tone it down next year and don't expect to be feeding an army of kids any longer.
Boxes of chocolates and plates of cookies languish. Cartons of crackers and cans of smoked oysters, a Christmas/ New Years tradition at our house, sit disappointed on the shelf.
Laundry piles up slowly but inexorably as washing clothes was a little lower than usual on my priority list last week.
Living as I do with ME/CFS, I cut way back on most household tasks as I tried to pace myself over the holidays. I did a fair job at this, avoiding any neurological numbness and mental decrepitude until Christmas Day.
But these are symptoms I prefer not to have to deal with any longer than necessary, so in many ways I have been laying low this week.
Which brings me back to clutter. My house is full of it at the moment.
I have made mental notes about what needs taking care of, starting the days after New Years. And that list is getting pretty long.
Not everybody contends with ME/CFS or some other chronic condition. But I think plenty of people are dealing with the mental, physical and emotional hangover from the business of the holiday season.
I know I'm not alone in looking around at the clusters of discarded holiday cheer, nor am I alone in the lack of desire to do anything about them.
Our Christmas tree was a hassle (for my husband) to put up. Maybe that's one of the reasons we're not in a hurry to take it down.
The thing is beautiful, and the lights bring a warm atmosphere to winter evenings. Seems a shame to cast it out so soon.
Is it clutter? Maybe. Some would think so, I'm sure.
And some will be only too happy to do a clearing out of their homes and get things back to normal. For me, it's a bit of holiday extravagance that I know will not come again for another year, so it gets house room for a bit longer.
Maybe my resolution about holiday clutter will be postponed for a bit longer yet.
Visit Jody's website and blog at http://www.ncubator.ca and http://ncubator.ca/blogger